Psychic Summer Mystery Fun
by The Great Allie
Summary: It's hard enough pulling everything back together after Ford Cruller's death right before the camp's summer session, but then Raz and the teachers find themselves flung headfirst into a mystery involving a dimension-hopping plant, among other... things
1. Welcome Back to Camp

A beat up blue sedan rumbled down the country road. The exhaust spewing from the back, and the din from the broken muffler, were the only imprints of technology in this otherwise rustic setting. This was out in the wilderness, where the only radio broadcast you could get were farm reports, if you were lucky, and connecting your cell phone to a tower was the fervent dream of a madman.

It was Razputin's car, and he was driving it to Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. It was late evening, and he'd been driving all day. The first time he'd been to the camp, the circus had been close enough for him to make it on foot. Today, however, he'd had to drive all day, through several states, in order to make it. He wasn't sure the poor little car was going to make it. He'd never driven it further than the corner store and back, and now the car was showing signs of fatigue. Lights were flashing all over the dash. Check engine! Check oil! Check brakes! Check the battery! Check everything! Good lord, man, don't drive me another inch!

His father, of course, hadn't wanted him to have the car in the first place. "What do you need a car for?" he'd said. "When you're with us, the circus transports you, and when you're with the Psychonauts, they send out that big jet. You don't need a car."

It wasn't about the car, of course. It was about independence. Having your own car was a rite of passage, it meant you could go anywhere you wanted without depending on someone to get you there and back. Raz was growing up, faster than his father would have liked. Already he was an international superstar Psychonaut, the youngest Psychonaut ever recruited, and one of the most talented.

He was also a stellar circus acrobat. That was what his father wanted. "When you're an adult, you can go and do what you want," he'd told him. "But as long as you're legally my dependant, you're staying with me until they call for you." Raz couldn't go out on a lot of missions. True, he was a psychic prodigy, but that can only take you so far. He lacked the experience for the bigger tasks, and he wasn't emotionally ready for some of the heaver stuff just yet. Best to go out on some of the more routine ones, and always with at least two more experienced agents he was familiar with.

When he was home, his father made him practice his acrobatics. "Didn't they come in handy during your first psychic experience?" he asked his son. And Raz had to admit they had. So he continued to practice acrobatics in addition to practicing his psychic abilities.

But that didn't mean he gave up on the car, of course. He earned money working at the circus, and he earned money as a Psychonaut. When he put that together, by the time he was old enough to drive, he had enough for a car. Not a new car, but a used one. A used one that, apparently, had not seen a lot of care in its life. It was old, too, with no cassette player in it, even.

Raz cared for it, though. He checked the oil, checked the fluid, kept it full of fuel, and gave it a happy life. But it was on its last legs, and short of an entire overhaul, nothing was going to keep this car alive much longer. For that price, he could buy a whole new one. All he could do was make the car's last days comfortable and useful.

Raz adjusted his rearview mirror. Here he was, thinking about the car, trying to get his mind off why he was really going out to Whispering Rock. It was easier to think about his car and his father than to think about what was taking him out to the camp three weeks before the summer session started.

Ford Cruller was dead. He'd gotten the message one evening after a show. He hadn't said anything then. He'd just gone to his room to be by himself. The next morning he got the rest of the message, to come out to Whispering Rock as soon as possible to help sort everything out.

Raz taught there, now, along with Coach Oleander, and Sasha and Milla. Milla couldn't keep herself away from the children, loving to take care of them, teach them, and nurture them. Sasha still did "unauthorized tests" in his secret lab, along with his new assistant Sheegor. And Coach Oleander, although no longer plagued by personal demons and an obsession with meat, was still the same gruff drill sergeant-type he always was. Now he kept a hutch of rabbits near the main lodge, and Heaven help the kid who he caught messing with them. That was worse than jumping on his jeep.

And Ford still worked at the camp doing every job there was. No, not anymore, Raz reminded himself. Until a few days ago, Ford still did every job. Chef, ranger, janitor, Psychic surveillance, he took care of it all. He was the crazy old coot who managed to be everywhere at once, and to this day no one had really figured out how. Now it would always be a mystery.

Ahead were the gates to Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. They were open, as they were expecting him. It was barely still light out, but he could see the shapes of his friends and mentors in the parking lot. He pulled the car into an empty spot, turned it off, and pocketed the key.

As he stepped out, Sasha, Milla, and Oleander came up to greet him.

"Ah, Razputin, darling!" Milla said happily, giving him a big, friendly hug. "My, look at how much you've grown! How was your trip?"

"Long," said Raz. "You got anything to eat? I'm starved."

"There's burgers up in the lodge," said Oleander. "They're waiting for ya."

"Who cooked them?" asked Raz, as they started up the path together.

"I did," said Oleander.

Raz gagged.

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" Oleander demanded. "I used to cook for my whole platoon back in the war, and it gave us the energy to take on the enemy by storm! Yessir, you shoulda seen us back then…"

"Morry," Sasha interrupted, "you were never _in_ the war."

"Don't tell me what I have and haven't done!" snapped Oleander.

"You were too short," said Sasha. "Look, even Raz is taller than you."

"Yeah, yeah," Oleander grumbled.

"Hey, Coach," said Raz, "I think I really have grown. I can't see the top of your head anymore when I look at you. Now how will I know if you're there when I talk to you?"

Oleander whacked him in the side with the riding crop he always carried. A drill sergeant isn't allowed to do that the recruits- but a teasing coworker wasn't covered in basic protocol. "You wanna say that again, son?"

Raz rubbed his side where he'd been whacked. "Geez," he grumbled. "Touchy."

"Now, darling, don't tease Morry," said Milla.

"Sorry, Milla," said Raz.

"Don't apologize to me, darling, apologize to the Coach."

"Right," said Raz. He turned to Oleander. "Sorry, Coach Oleander."

Oleander grunted.

"Morry says thank you," said Milla.

"No, I didn't!"

"Morry, set a good example for the children," chided Milla.

"He's not a child anymore," said Sasha. "He's a young man, now."

"Thanks," said Raz. "You're not so bad yourself."

They entered the lodge. It was empty now, but in a few weeks it would be full of campers eating, laughing, and playing. They sat down at the table nearest to the oven and the camp store, Sasha next to Raz and Milla across from him, next to Oleander. Sasha floated the tray of burgers from the kitchen over to them.

"They're cold," explained Sasha. "We wanted them ready for when you arrived but you took longer than expected."

"Sorry," said Raz. "I got lost between Richmond and Pikesville. I wanted to call you and tell you I'd be late but I couldn't get a hold of you."

"Not surprised," said Oleander. "But we're used to it. In times of war it's always difficult to send messages to the battlefield."

"Is everything war with you?" Raz said, as he took a bite out of his burger.

"You've been in my mind," Oleander shot back.

Milla handed Raz a napkin. "Razputin, darling, don't talk with your mouth full."

Raz took the napkin and wiped his mouth, chewed, chewed, chewed, and swallowed. "Thanks," he said.

"And don't take such big bites," she said.

"Milla!"

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just want you to have good table manners."

"Always mothering the children," said Sasha. "You'll never change, even if the children do."

"So," said Raz, "What about Ford? I mean, the message only said that he… well, you know."

"Say it, Razputin," said Sasha.

"The message only said that he… died."

"It's important to say it," said Sasha. "Don't tiptoe around the words, or you will never be able to face the difficult things in life."

"Well, like, was it part of some psychic mission or something?" asked Raz. "I mean, what happened?"

"Nothing sinister," said Sasha. "He was an old man. As near as we can tell, he died in his sleep a few nights ago."

"Wow," said Raz. "I mean, I never really thought of him as an old man before… he never really seemed old."

"That's what happens when you reach a certain age," said Sasha. "Your health can decline very rapidly very suddenly." As he ate with his hands, he telekinetically pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. He took a bite and set the burger down, then took the cigarette with one hand while he pyrokinetically set it on fire

"I wish you wouldn't do that," said Milla. "It's a disgusting habit."

Sasha ignored her. He lit the cigarette, took a drag, and exhaled slowly.

"None of us are as young as we used to be," he said at last. "It's difficult for one as young as you to understand, Razputin, but we're all getting older."

"Maybe _you_ are," said Oleander, "but I've never been more fit in my life!"

"Don't be so depressed, darling," said Milla. "Your best days are not yet behind you."

Sasha frowned.

"I think you're still a great agent," offered Raz.

Sasha gave a small half-grin, the closest to a smile he ever got. "Thank you, Razputin," he said. "But it's not about being an agent."

"Then what is it about?"

"You'll understand when you're older."

"Not if you explain it to me _now_."

The three adults laughed, and Raz realized they were laughing at him. Like he was a cute little joke. So, maybe he didn't understand all these grown-up problems. Is that any reason to exclude him?

"So, um," Raz interrupted. "What about, like, his stuff? And his jobs? And his… um… you know."

"Say it," Sasha said sternly.

"What about his body?" asked Raz, and cringed at the words.

"Still being discussed," said Sasha. "We asked you down here so you could discuss it with us. After all, you were close to him, and are just as much staff as us here, besides."

"We'll talk about it in the morning," said Milla. "You should get some sleep, first, though. You look exhausted."

"Yeah," said Raz. He finished the last of his burger and stood up. "Man, I didn't realize driving took so much out of you. Why couldn't you send a jet or something?"

"The Psychonauts aren't made of jets, you know," said Oleander. "They gotta come from someplace."

"Also, we crashed it on the last mission," added Milla. "Morry was driving."

"Geeze, tell the whole camp, why don't you? I'm telling you, the sun was in my eyes!"

"Okay, chill. I'm going to my room to relax. Same one as always, right?"

"Right," said Sasha. "Give me your key and I'll get your suitcases."

Raz fished his key out of his pocket and handed it over. "They're in the back seat," he said. "Don't open the trunk. There's garbage in the trunk."

"Why is there garbage in the trunk?"

"I don't really think we need to get into that, now," said Raz. "Good night."


	2. Loose Ends

Raz settled down on his bunk. He'd called top bunk the first time he'd been in this room, and it had been his ever since. He'd stayed in this bunk every time he was down here as a teacher at Whispering Rock, and it always felt the same. It was almost as if he had never left.

He had his pack with him, and now he took it off and hung it on the post of the bed. He'd kept his merit badges on the back, even though they really had no meaning outside of camp. It's not like Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello put their merit badges on their résumés when they went out looking for their first psychic job. It's not like people stopped him on the street and compared badges with him. Since he wasn't even a camper anymore, he didn't need them to participate in activities. They were just treasures, mementos of his first trip to Whispering Rock.

In his bag, in a folder tucked into a pocket, were the slips of paper given to him for earning the badges. Ford Cruller signed them all, even though Ford had really only given him three. These slips, too, were useless because all they proved was that the badges were his, and if the badges didn't mean anything then how on earth could the slips? But he kept them with him, too, as mementos and treasures. Now, looking at the badges, he felt somewhat sad. They reminded him of how he earned those badges, and how he'd first received a mentor and saved the world.

It wasn't until he pulled out the plastic baggie that it really hit him. Ford had always been a psychic stowaway, and although now he didn't pay much attention to what Raz was doing when he was away from the Psychonauts, he'd always remained just a bacon call away. Raz didn't normally keep bacon on him anymore, and when he did he kept it cooked and in a plastic bag. It was pure chance he'd had this one, actually, as he'd swiped it from breakfast a few days ago and held onto it. He wanted to talk to Ford before he came to camp.

He waved the bacon next to his ear, and nothing happened.

Raz aimed at the trashcan and threw the bacon into it. It bounced off the edge and landed on the floor. He picked it up telekinetically and threw it again, this time sinking it directly into the can. He buried his face in the pillow and, for the first time, cried out his grief. He shifted right from crying into an uneasy sleep, plagued with vague nightmares of meat and water.

* * *

Raz woke up late the next morning. The sun was already high in the sky, and he was alone in the lodge- everybody else must already be up. He jumped to the ground and quickly washed off, put on his Psychonauts uniform, and ran down to the Main Lodge to look for the others.

He found them sitting at a table outside, with stacks of papers and folders around them. He ran up and slid into a seat, panting.

"Sorry I'm late," he said. "I didn't mean to oversleep."

"That's all right," said Milla. "You must have been really worn out from your big trip yesterday. Morry wanted to wake you up at six as usual but I told him no, that would be a terrible idea, if you're sleeping so much you must need it." She laughed a bit.

Oleander grumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" asked Raz.

"I said, 'Good morning, soldier.'"

"That's not what it sounded like." He looked over the stacks of papers on the table. "What's all this?"

"Legal matter," said Sasha. "We don't really need you for this. Why don't you go get some fresh air, and come back after lunch?"

"Okay," said Raz. "Is there any breakfast?"

"Yes," said Milla. "Same place as dinner. Morry didn't want to save you any breakfast, either, but don't worry."

"You know what happen to lazybones on the battlefield?" said Oleander.

"No," Raz retorted, "but I bet it involves exploding."

"Yer darn right it involves exploding, and _that's_ if you're lucky!"

"I get it," said Raz. He stood back up and started to walk away. Before he was gone, however, a question found it's way to the surface of his consciousness, and he just couldn't walk away without asking it.

"Hey, um…" he started. "So… where is he? Ford, I mean?"

"In his sanctuary," replied Sasha, without looking over at him. "I would advise you to avoid it."

Raz made a face. "Don't worry," he said. "I will."

* * *

So much to do! And it all had to be taken care of before the campers arrived. Raz didn't know how they were going to get it done- he didn't even know how they knew what needed to be done, because some of the things they had to do, he never would have thought of on his own.

Ford hadn't worked for the Psychonauts officially in years, but he had been sending Milla and Sasha on missions secretly. Now that they didn't have him to survey for them, they made new arrangements with the Grand Head of the Psychonauts.

Then there was all his machinery and his sanctuary. It belonged to him, and he hadn't specifically left it to anyone. For the time being, they left it alone, but Sasha expressed interest in turning it into part of his lab, or else donating some of the more high-tech equipment back to the Psychonauts. Of course, much of it was obsolete by now, so that turned out not to be an option. For the time being, they left his sanctuary alone.

And then there were his jobs. He filled so many, that without him they simply couldn't run the camp as they did now. So they put an ad in the local papers, hoping for applicants to come and fill his positions. It would take a few days for people to show up, so in the meantime there was one other matter to attend to.

They had a private service, and buried him at Whispering Rock. They decided on it together, since it was such a big part of his life, even before he was forced to stay there. They buried him near Lake Oblongata and the Wilderness, and put a temporary white marker on the spot. Raz didn't understand why they didn't have a headstone, and Milla patiently explained that it takes months for those to be made and installed.

So there they were, only a few nights after Raz first arrived, standing around the fresh earth, looking down on the temporary marker. It had the same words that would be on the permanent one, although with no fancy type or designs.

_Ford Cruller_

_Grand Head of the Psychonauts__  
Whispering Rock's Own  
__Admiral, Ranger, Janitor, Chef  
And Mentor_

And a very short biblical verse at the end.

Raz had been asked for input on the headstone, and together they had chosen to list his accomplishments in life. Raz had initially suggested a hilarious but slightly naughty verse he'd thought up on the drive over, purely out of the blue. Sasha had said no way. When Raz persisted, Sasha suggested that he have it put on his _own_ headstone. When Raz pressed a third time, Sasha said that if he didn't knock it off, he'd have the opportunity to take Sasha's suggestion much sooner than he'd like. So Raz had cast his vote to list the accomplishments for which people knew him best.

"Anyone want to say a few words?" asked Raz, as they all stared at the marker. "I mean, isn't that what you're supposed to do at this point?"

"He will leave an empty spot here," said Sasha. "Not just in his jobs, but in his very presence."

"A great man," added Milla. "A good leader and a good friend."

"Good to know him," Oleander finished. "We're gonna miss him."

Raz opened his mouth to say something, but found he couldn't. He was embarrassed, and hid his face in his hands. Milla put her arms around him and made a soft shushing noise.

"It's okay, son," said Oleander. "Even the best of us break down at one point or another."

Finally, Raz broke away from Milla. "I'd just like to say, I never could have done what I did without him," he said. "And… I think I still need him."

"You still have us, Razputin," said Sasha.

Raz wiped his eyes. "Not forever, though," he replied sadly.

"The only person who can be with us our entire lives is ourselves," said Sasha. "Life is full of greetings and partings. But as long as we are alive, there is always the future to look forward to. One day you will have to say goodbye to us, as well. And we must face the possibility of saying goodbye to you. Or perhaps our lives will simply drift apart. Do not feel sad; it is the way of life."

"Well, I'm suitably depressed," said Oleander gruffly. "I say we go back to the lodge and have a little "reception." Who's with me?"

"That sounds fabulous," said Milla, dotting her eyes with a handkerchief. "Come with us, darling. It will make you feel better."

"I will meet up with you," said Sasha. "I need to get back to the lab and check on a few things. My assistant should have finished by now."

"How come I haven't seen her yet?" asked Raz.

"She doesn't like to go outside," explained Sasha. "She still has affects from her isolation in the asylum, and her servitude to Dr. Lobato. I think she would be thrilled to see you, though, if you'd like to come to my lab."

"This isn't just an excuse to get me to come down for some experiments, is it?" asked Raz suspiciously.

"Heavens, no," said Sasha. "Of course, if you're interested, there are a few things I would like to look into—"

"Sasha!" scolded Milla.

"The choice is yours, Razputin," said Sasha, ignoring Milla. "Of course, I don't want you to feel _obligated_ to, by no means."

"You science types," grumbled Oleander. "Always trying to turn the world into your little guinea pig."

"Oh, yeah," said Raz. "Now, if he were, for example, building experimental battle tanks and matching brains to them, that would be something different."

Oleander gave him another whack. "That wasn't science!" he barked. "That was _war_, grunt! Note the difference!"

"I got it, I got it," said Raz, rubbing his side. "Man, since when are you so touchy?"

* * *

_Maybe I should have mentioned this before, or maybe it's best that I didn't, but I'm saying it now. I mention it in my profile but it's under a lot of crap about a different series of mine. And then I was all like, "Oh, they're not going to read all that about Mario if they're just here for Psychonauts._

_I never beg for reviews and I never ask for story suggestions. I do, however, appreciate feedback. When I write on the Internet and publish as the story unfolds, I like to know how people are following. What they don't understand, what they want to see more of, what they think doesn't work. I write for you as much as me, so if you have anything to say, please say it. And, of course, if you don't, then don't._

_I also ran the author-insertion character through the Official Mary Sue Litmus Test. She scored a 14, which is in the lowest window. The plant dimension-hopper scored 16, which is in the same window. Just in case you were worried. I am, too- I can't believe I'm doing this…  
_


	3. Job Interviews

The interviews started the next day. They were hardly overrun with prospective employees, so it was important not to be picky. But it seemed like even the lowest possible standards were too high, because even the _most_ qualified applicants weren't quite up to snuff. Several of the locals came looking for summer jobs, but none of them seemed up to the task involving being around so much psytanium. Some applicants weren't cut out for the job. Most were both. A few were no-shows. And, of course, there was the last one. The one you'll hire when you're just _that_ desperate, even though he's no better than the first guy you turned away.

"Good day," she said cheerfully, sitting down on the folding chair on the stage of the main lodge. Raz, Milla, Sasha, and Oleander were sitting at two different tables, facing her. She tucked one leg behind the other and folded her hands in her lap, sitting up straight. A very professional way to sit.

"Good day, darling," said Milla. "I have your application here. Now, what do you like to be called? Allison?"

"Allie," she said. "Or Lissy."

"All right," said Milla, making a note.

"Do you have any experience working with psychics?" asked Sasha.

"I've beaten this game three times."

"What?"

"I said, I haven't been around psychics before," said Allie. "But I know a lot about them. I do a lot of reading."

"I see," said Sasha.

"Do you have any experience working with children?" asked Milla.

"Sort of," said Allie. "I teach two-year-olds at Sunday School during the school year. I used to volunteer at a pre-school, and before that I helped an art teacher with fourth graders. I also have babysitting experience- I'm Red Cross certified."

"Marvelous," said Milla. "Now, which job were you looking into?"

"Anything," replied Allie. "Although preferably one with a lot of sitting down. I have a bad knee. But I can still do any job you need me to."

Milla took some more notes.

"Do you have any questions, Morry?" asked Milla.

"Yeah, I got a question," said Oleander, with a gleeful little snarl. "You're in the battlefield, with bullets whizzin' past ya and shells goin' off all around. You duck into a foxhole and find out that you're the last one alive in your squad. What do you do?"

Allie grinned sheepishly. "Uh… pull out my gun and take out as many bastards as I can before they get me?"

Oleander grinned at the others. "I like this one," he said.

"Now," said Sasha, "this job involves prolonged exposure to psitanium, which has been known to increase mental illness in unstable people. Do you have any mental diagnoses we should know about?"

"I don't think you can legally ask that."

"Indulge me."

"Okay, I have bipolar, anxiety, and high-functioning autism," said Allie. "I take medication to control it, and my psychiatrist adjusted my dosage when I told her I was coming down for an interview. She gave me a thumbs-up. I have a note from her if you don't believe me."

She reached into her purse and took out a folded piece of paper. Sasha floated it out of her hands and into his, and read it over.

"Seems to be in order," he said. "All we have to do is check your references..."

"We'll keep you on staff for now, darling," said Milla. "Just to make sure you'll work out here. We can't have you going through a mental breakdown in front of the children."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. So, I have the job?"

"Yes," said Milla. "Unless Razputin has anything to add? You've been awfully quiet during this, darling."

Raz looked up- he hadn't been paying close attention. "Huh? Oh, no, no, she's fine. Super."

"I know it's hard to replace him, Raz, dear, but it's important that we keep moving on." She put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know," said Raz. "Uh, no further questions, Alice."

"Allie."

"Allie."

"Great," she said, standing up. "When do I start?"

"Tomorrow," said Milla. "I'll show you where you'll stay during the session. We'll be sharing a cabin."

Milla and Allie left together, and Sasha, Oleander, and Raz stayed to continue the work.

"Anybody else?" asked Raz.

"I don't believe so," said Sasha, looking over his notes.

"Then I say we break for lunch," said Oleander, standing up. "I'm sick of these interviews."

"It will be difficult, though, getting everything done this summer if we're so short-staffed," said Sasha. Of course, that didn't stop him from getting up with Oleander.

"Um, HELLO? Don't I get a turn?"

All of them spun around, to see who was speaking- the voice had come from behind them, although that took a second to process. It was not a voice any of them recognized. And there was nobody else in the room. Sasha and Oleander stood up and took a defensive stance, ready for anything. Raz glanced at them, and then copied. He didn't quite have Psychonaut reflexes yet.

In the corner of the room was a pile of leaves, vines, and roots. Nobody had noticed it- it looked so natural in the rustic atmosphere of the cabin, it hadn't called a second glance. Probably just a plant that had found moisture and sprung up inside, due to lack of care. But now it unfolded itself, and they saw it wasn't a plant at all- it was some sort of animal.

It had big, bulbous eyes and a long crocodile snout, with several soft snaggly teeth. It had a long stem that branched into six roots. When he stood up, they worked like spider's legs. When he sat down, they dug into the earth. He also had two long leaves, which he manipulated as hands. Even aesthetics were present on this creature, for he pulled back his unmanageable leaves and vines into a ponytail, and wore two red bands on his neck.

Maybe he looked a little strange, but if you pictured him next to some of the other campers, he actually looked right at home.

"I'm a dimensional interloper," explained the creature. "I'm looking for a job."

He began to crawl across the room on his spider roots, which carried him fast. He climbed onto the stage and sat down in the seat, folding his leaf-hands on his lap. "Excuse my appearance," he said. "I'm a 'plannimal.' My name's Nawrocki. Here, I think you have me on your list."

"I've heard of this before," said Sasha. "Many worlds existing on the same plane of reality, a different dimension. We've never had any visitors from another dimension in this one before."

"That's not true necessarily," said Nawrocki. "Maybe they _have_ come here before and it never comes up in conversation."

"It's a fascinating theory," said Sasha. "I've been getting inter-dimensional interference with the Brain Tumbler."

"That was probably me," said Nawrocki. "I probably harnessed some energy from your equipment or something when I was cutting through dimensions or whatever."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Raz.

"That's because you're thinking about it too hard," said Nawrocki. "Or not enough. Whichever you weren't doing. So, is this a job interview or what? Or are we going to sit here and talk about science?"

"Why did you come here?" asked Sasha.

"Opportunity," said Nawrocki. "Change. Excitement. No real reason. I just felt like a change."

"Why _here_, though?"

"This is where I landed. Seemed like a good place to start." Nawrocki rolled his eyes back in his head, took a deep breath, and rolled them back. "I'm psychic, too, also, so, there you go. Young psychic minds."

"Really," said Oleander. "How much training have you had?"

"Self-taught," said Nawrocki. He picked up his application telekinetically, off the table, and lifted it in front of Oleander. "But I can perform telekinesis with the ease of a natural. Clairvoyance, confusion, shield, blast, you know, all the basic stuff. I can keep the little spoon-benders in line."

Raz couldn't help but grin- one of Crullers personalities had often referred to the campers as "little spoon-benders."

Nawrocki spread his leaves open. "You're looking for a ranger, right? Well, who could possibly be better for the job than a talking plant? I mean, come on. That's a no-brainer."

"I don't think we can hire him without a background check," said Sasha. "It would be irresponsible."

"Look, Nein, our hands are tied," said Oleander. "It's either him or the chronic pyromaniac. Which one would you rather take a risk on?"

"I can live in the woods," said Nawrocki. "I'd prefer it, actually. Bears and cougars don't eat plannimals. No meat." He pinched his neck to show that there was no flab.

"All right," said Sasha. "We'll hire him on a trial basis, like the other. I don't like this, though, hiring so quickly so close to the camps start date. In two weeks the campers will already have started classes."

"You won't regret it," said Nawrocki with a grin.

"Can I ask you something?" asked Raz, raising his hand.

"Yuh-huh?" Nawrocki looked up.

"How, exactly, did you get here?" Raz looked at him with total frazzled confusion. "I mean... how often do people go through dimensions, anyway? How'd you do it?"

Nawrocki shrugged. "I-uh-oh. Picked he lock??"

"What lock?"

"The interdimensional lock?"

"That doesn't make any sense," said Raz.

"It's an ability," said Nawrocki. "Your people are very close to developing it themselves. Tall one, what's your name?"

"Sasha Nein."

"You'd better keep studying with your brain tumbler- if you're getting interference, you could be very close to leaping psychically into other dimensions or something. Think about it."

They concluded the interview, and Nawrocki climbed up the wall and nestled in the rafters. They all three simultaneously leaned back in their seats and sighed.

"I feel like this is going to be a disaster," said Raz.

"Don't," said Sasha. "You'll run the risk of a self-fulfilling prophecy."

"I gotta agree with the kid," said Oleander. "I don't think either of the... folks... we hired are up to snuff on this. We're going to have a janitor that can't walk and a ranger from another dimension doing who-knows-what out in the woods. I tell ya, I can smell trouble a mile away, and right now I got a nose full o' the stuff right now."

"Stop it, Morry," said Sasha. "You're both making it worse."

"I calls 'em like I sees 'em," said Oleander.


	4. Wanderin' Around

_I fear I have been the perpetrator of a joke told wrong. The chronic pyromaniac was apparently the other person who applied for ranger, as did Nawrocki. Allie was already hired so I didn't think it would feel either-or. Well, I can't win 'em all.  
_

* * *

Razputin didn't know how to grieve. He'd never had to do it before in his life. He didn't even have the experience of the death of a grandparent to use as a place marker. Most people his age had been touched by death before, and he felt like he should know what to do. But it was just something he wasn't prepared for.

Milla told him that there was no one way to grieve, that everybody does it in different ways, and that it takes different people different amounts of time. Some days will be easier than others, she explained. As long as he didn't deny his feelings, there was no wrong way to grieve.

He still felt like he was doing it wrong. He spent the days walking around the camp. It felt like a second home to him, by now. Since the first day he'd seen it, he knew he belonged there. Nothing felt different. He thought he should feel like everything had changed, but aside from the fact that he wasn't running into Ford everywhere, it seemed the same.

He would go to the temporary grave marker near the lake and the wilderness, and look at it, and try to convince himself of what it meant. The man he'd seen at the camp, in the sanctuary, in his ear, in his dream- that man was now laying below the surface, and would stay there for the rest of forever. But he couldn't quite accept it as reality.

So he tried to get his mind off of it. But that was pretty much impossible since that was the kind of thing you just can't get off your mind. He'd tried to befriend the two new workers, to have something new as a distraction, but that didn't work. For one thing, it was hard to tell which one was more insufferable than the other. For another, they always either too busy for him, or else too crazy.

Nawrocki was difficult to find, usually wrapped around a tree blending in. He answered questions with as few words as possible, as if there was some kind of ration on them, and tended to look down his nose at everyone.

One day Raz walked up to Nawrocki, who was looking over the wilderness with binoculars. He looked bored, and not really doing much, so Raz decided to strike up a conversation.

"Hey, whatchya doin' there?" he'd asked.

""M busy," Nawrocki replied.

"Birdwatching?"

Nawrocki gave him a _look_.

"You know, if you set the birds on fire, they make a tasty meal. It's good for you."

"Thanks for sharing." Nawrocki went back to his binoculars. "Is this all there is?" he asked.

"What?"

"Of the camp," Nawrocki clarified.

"Huh? Well, there's the boathouse, and the GPC, and—"

"I know about those," snapped Nawrocki. He gave Raz an exasperated look, like Raz was the one being confusing.

"Oh. Well then, yeah, pretty much."

Nawrocki went back to his binoculars. "Don't you have work to do?" he asked.

"Not until camp starts."

"Don't you have _preliminary_ work to do?"

"Not until the last minute. So, really, what are you working on?"

"A highly specialized project, Nunya."

"Nunya? What's Nunya?"

"As in, Nunya Business. Now, scoot." And Nawrocki gestured with his leaves for Raz to be moving along.

Raz decided to end the conversation there. What a friggin' weirdo, he thought as he walked away.

"I heard that!" Nawrocki called after him.

"I don't care!" Raz called back happily.

Allie was different in that she was incredibly outgoing after she got to know Raz, but was a terrible conversationalist. Any conversation you had with her would somehow turn into a conversation about Disney World. It didn't matter how it started. Life at the circus? Thorny Towers? 17th Century England? Classic literature? The old medicinal practice of drilling holes into the human skull? All had connections to Disney World, apparently. Raz decided not to talk to her much. And when it wasn't Disney World, the conversation bounced around more than a dodge ball. A little of that girl goes a long way, he decided, and avoided her most of the day.

She was very plain, especially compared to everyone else at the camp. She had to be in her late teens or early twenties, a little older than Raz. She had dirty blonde hair coming down to her shoulder blades and a pair of black glasses that hung around her neck whenever they weren't on her nose. Her skin was light and her face had been plagued with acne in her youth, and was just now recovering. Allie had dark brown eyes, but she never made eye contact with Raz- at best she looked over his head or next to him. Usually, she carried on a whole conversation without looking at him at all.

After Raz had finished his little encounter with Nawrocki, he headed to the lodge and past the counter of the Camp Store, where Chef Cruller had always grilled burgers. Now Allie was sitting there, reading a beat-up paperback. She'd eventually been shuffled into that job because it was something she excelled at. Like, it's _scary_ how natural the job came to her.

Whenever Raz came in, she jumped to attention and stood behind the counter.

"Hi," she said. "Welcome to the Camp Store, can I help you?"

"No," said Raz. "I'm just passing through."

"Oh," she said. "Well, let me know if I can help you."

And she stood there, ready to help him at a moment's notice, until he left. Then she picked up her distraction. And if he came right back, she put it right down.

Raz tried going out, and coming right back in. She sat down as soon as he left, and jumped up as soon as he came back. He went back and forth a few times, and without fail, every time it worked. Like something out of a cartoon.

He did it a few more times before leaving out the back. So, maybe it was a little mean. It was still pretty funny.

Next he stood on the balcony and looked over the view. You could see all the way to Thorny Towers Home for the Disturbed on a clear day- or what was left of it, since the tower part had been blown up years ago. The island still stood, as did the rubble. Raz didn't know what had happened to the patients- he hoped someone remembered them and took them off the island.

"Penny for your thoughts," said Nawrocki. Raz looked over his shoulder and saw him sitting on the ground, looking up at him. He smiled and waved.

"No, thanks," said Raz. "Weren't you just in the woods?"

"Nunya was a roaring success," Nawrocki said. He twiddled his thumbs and looked up at the sky. At length, he said, "I hear I'm replacing a dead guy."

"Don't call him that," Raz snapped. "His name was Ford Cruller. He was the best leader the Psychonauts ever had. He was my mentor. He wasn't just 'some guy.'"

Nawrocki held up his hands. "Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to sound so callous. I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Why so chatty all of a sudden?"

Nawrocki shrugged. "Uh, you know, people talk. And stuff. They do that in this dimension, don't they?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"Great," said Nawrocki. "So, where did Mr. Cruller stay?"

"I don't really want to talk right now," said Raz shortly.

"Geeze, when _I'm_ busy, all you wanna do is chat, and now that you're sulking around suddenly there's a double standard. And, man, it's hot out all of a sudden, isn't it?"

"No," said Raz. "I'm just practicing setting you on fire."

Nawrocki jumped and turned around- his back leg was smoking. "Okay, okay! Jeeze! I'm leaving! Touchy!"

Raz chuckled as Nawrocki scuttled away.

Raz stayed up there for a while longer, but didn't like staring at the lake. So he moved his thoughtfulness back to the paths, wandering through the woods and looking out for bears. Eventually he came to the GPC, and decided to drop in and see Sasha. Ever since Sasha met Nawrocki, he'd been experimenting with inter-dimensional travel, just to see if Nawrocki was, indeed, speaking truthfully.

Raz slid down the hole in one of the GPC units and came out at the top of the stairs in Sasha's lab. Sasha was standing at his console, tracking interference in the Brain Tumbler. Sheegor was sitting against the wall, holding Mr. Pokeylope and bouncing him on her knee, singing a nonsense song.

"La, la, la, la, Pokeylope, la, la, la, I love him! La, la, la, he is the best! La, la, Pokey-love him!"

"Hey, Sasha," said Razputin. "How's it going?"

"Compelling," Sasha said to himself. Then, to Raz, "It's going slowly, although I believe I might be very close to the basic principal Nawrocki was talking about... I'd like to get him into my lab to go over it, but he did not accept my invitation."

"Yay, Raz is here!" Sheegor cheered. She put Mr. Pokeylope on the ground, ran up to Raz, and gave him a big hug. Raz returned it, although a bit awkwardly.

Sheegor let go and beamed. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "Saving more people? Have you come to see Mr. Pokeylope?"

"Sure," said Raz. "How's ol' Pokey-lopey doing?"

"Just fine, baby," said Mr. Pokeylope, looking over at Raz lazily. "Everything's gonna be juuust fine..."

"Well, that's super," said Raz. "And creepy. So, working hard down here?"

"Oh, yes!" Sheegor chirped. "I work very hard for Mr. Sasha. He doesn't make me work as hard as Dr. Lobato, though. He was mean! Mr. Sasha is nice!"

"Yeah, I've heard."

"You wanna play ring-around-the-turtle?" she asked.

"Maybe later," said Raz. "I wanted to talk to Sasha." He glanced over at Sasha. "That is, if he can spare a few minutes."

Sasha sucked his teeth. "Could this wait a few minutes, Razputin? This is critical- I don't want to be interrupted."

"Uh, okay," said Raz. "It's not that important."

"Good."

"Yaaaay!" Sheegor jumped up and down happily. "You can play with me while we wait!"

Raz turned to Sasha. "Do you need her?"

"No," said Sasha. "This work does not require an assistant."

"Great."

Three games of ring-around-the-turtle later, Sasha pushed away from his console and turned to Raz. "I can leave off here for a few minutes," he said. "What is it you needed with me?"

"Well," said Raz. "I, ah... I just sorta... kinda... wanted to go to Ford's Sanctuary."

"Ah," said Sasha. "Yes, the Sanctuary has been locked out of the Underground Transport for the time being... I can unlock it for you, if that's what you want."

"Yeah," said Raz slowly. "I was kinda hoping, though... that you could come too. You know, if you wanted. It's cool if you don't, though."

Sasha looked surprised at that. He went over to his computer, his back facing Raz, and began to work with it. "Why me?" he asked casually.

"Well, I didn't want to go alone, and Coach Oleander wouldn't understand and Milla... she wouldn't understand either."

"You think I would?"

"Yeah," said Raz. "Yeah, I do."

Sasha nodded. He heard what hadn't been said. Sasha had been a mentor to Raz, just as much as anyone else. Milla would want to baby him. Oleander would want him to tough it up. Sasha... Sasha would understand how he felt, and not say anything, and provide the roll of the mentor.

It was touching, really.

"Very well," said Sasha, in the same official tone of voice he always used. "Sheegor, please mind the lab while I go with Razputin and see that nothing happens to the machine, all right?"

"Okay," said Sheegor. "You can count on me, Mr. Sasha!"

"Let's go, Razputin," said Sasha.

* * *

The Sanctuary hadn't changed.

Raz looked up at the machinery. It was all the same. Surveillance for psychic disturbances. An empty observation room. A pool of water at the bottom, near machines for ranking up.

Raz stepped out into the middle of the room, and looked around. This is what he had been looking for. This was what he'd needed all the time he'd been here. Here was the first place he saw Ford Cruller in his element, and here was where his absence finally sunk in. He'd been in denial, although it was involuntary, and now that was gone.

He cried again, kneeling down to the floor and covering his face with his hands. Just as he suspected, Sasha knew what to do. He walked up behind Raz and put a hand on his shoulder. One squeeze for comfort, and then nothing. Leave it there for a while, and then take it off. That was all Raz needed, someone to acknowledge.

Raz stood up, wiped his eyes, and sighed. "Okay," he said. "I think I get it, now."

"I'm glad," said Sasha. "Do you need anything else?"

"No," said Raz. "You can go now, if you want. I'll just be here for another minute or two."

Sasha nodded, but didn't leave. He stepped back a few paces and gave Raz some space.

Raz stepped out onto the glass that covered the largest chunk of psitanium in the world. It had been the only thing keeping Ford's mind together, and for the rest of his life, he couldn't step away from it as the Ford Cruller they all knew.

"Be careful, Razputin," Sasha said suddenly. He stepped forward and grabbed Raz's shoulder, holding him back. "Look at the glass."

Raz looked down- the glass was cracked from the middle, crawling out like a spider's web.

"What happened here?" asked Raz.

"We're not sure," said Sasha. "It was like this before he died."

"Do you think maybe it's connected?" asked Raz. "Like, some psychic duel that cracked the very glass of the platform and--"

Sasha shook his head. "Don't let your imagination get away with you, Razputin," said Sasha. "He was an old man. That's why he died. You don't need to insert drama into everything you hear about."

Raz sagged. "It just seems so... _mundane_."

"Life is like that, sometimes," said Sasha.

"I guess." Raz shrugged. "Well, then, I guess we can go. Um, thanks for taking me here, Sasha."

"Anytime."

* * *

_We've established the "psychic" and "summer" part already. Next chapter, we move onto the "fun." And, if you haven't already noticed, seeds for the "mystery" part have been planted. More than just right now._


	5. Thinkin' Stuff

_Sorry. I couldn't make this one work. I re-wrote it three times and it's just dull as dishwater. I need this to happen because the next chapter depends on some of this stuff, but it isn't nearly as funny as I thought it would be. It's okay- next time they'll all be playing volleyball, and then later the kids will get here._

* * *

"You did WHAT?"

Raz was having breakfast the next morning, cooked by Allie and served to the rest of the staff. She really was a decent cook, if you didn't mind pre-cooked frozen and canned food, grilled to mediocrity. Cooking skills could only take you so far, and she did all she could. Raz took a plate of questionable breakfast and settled down across from Nawrocki, who seemed to be in the lodge just for conversation.

Raz swallowed his biscuit. "Went to the Sanctuary," said Raz.

"I thought it was off-limits!"

"Sort of," said Raz. "I had Sasha unlock it to take me down."

"Jeeze," said Nawrocki. "You didn't call me?"

"Uh, didn't think to," said Raz. "Any special reason I should have?"

"Nah, never mind," Nawrocki grumbled. He pushed back and climbed out of his seat. "You got there from Sasha's Lab?"

"Yeah," said Raz. "The Whispering Rocket Underground... something, something. You can't get there now, though."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, forget it. I gotta go prepare the Scavenger Hunt before the kids get here." Nawrocki began to spider-crawl out of the room. "I'll catch you later, eh, Razzy?"

"Just 'Raz,'" Raz called after him.

Allie was leaning on the counter and staring at him.

"Can I help you?" Raz snapped.

She recoiled. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"No, I'm sorry. Did you want something?"

"I was just wondering, how many kids come up?" she asked tentatively.

"I think twenty are registered," said Raz. "But we might have a few last-minute additions and people who show-up without a registration. There's usually space for them."

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Just wondering. I, uh, don't like surprises."

"Okay, then."

"Okay."

There was a silence as Raz continued to eat.

"I did like Cinderella's Surprise Celebration, though," said Allie thoughtfully.

"Good for you." Raz took another bite, without looking at her.

"Actually, it was Cinderellabration I liked. That was a different show. I never saw the other one. I hear it was good, though."

"Can we _not_ talk about Cinderella?"

"Okay. You want to buy a Dream Fluff?"

"NO, thank you."

There was another silence.

"How about a Psi core?"

Raz stood up and picked up his plate. "I'm going to finish this in the TV room," he announced.

"Oh, uh, okay," said Allie nervously. "But, I haven't cleaned up in there yet. When I woke up I had to come straight in here to make breakfast."

Raz groaned. Allie had not spent the whole night in her bed since she came here. Inevitably one of them would find her curled up on the couch in front of the TV every morning, snuggling under an unzipped sleeping bag and cuddling her ratty old blue doll. She woke up on time, and always tidied up after herself. But it was still strange.

"I'm eating out front," he said loudly.

"Okay, then." She waved. "Have a good day."

* * *

Outside, he saw Milla sitting on one of the tables, eyes closed, head back. She looked like she was preparing her mind for the campers, so Raz decided not to disturb her. He sat down at another table and ate as quietly as he could.

"Oh, Raz, darling, how are you this morning?" Milla asked him without ever opening her eyes or turning her head.

Raz was often surprised by other psychics. For example, when he was in someone else's mind, he had no idea what was happening to his physical body unless it was disturbed enough to break the trance. But he'd carried on entire conversations with advanced psychics where they spent the whole time in another mental world. Someday he'd be able to do that, too, but he had no idea how in the world it worked.

"Great, thanks," said Raz. "How about you?"

"Wonderful, darling, thank you for asking!" She sounded almost musical. "Really, I can't wait for the campers to arrive. It's gotten quiet around here now that everything is more or less ready. Just a few days, now! What were you planning on doing today?"

"Probably some exploring," said Raz. "Unless something comes up. It'd be nice to get a chance to wander around the camp. It's pretty awesome here, still."

"Ah, of course. Go and enjoy yourself, then," she said. "Have you given any thought to what course you'll run the students through this year?"

"Yeah," said Raz. "I've got a good obstacle course from my memories of Thorny Towers. It'll be the perfect place to practice telekinesis and pyrokinesis."

"Good," said Milla. "You make sure it's airtight this time, okay?"

"Oh, what, that happened ONE time!"

"Four times, darling."

"ONE summer!"

"_Last_ summer."

Raz threw up his arms. "There's no talking with you people today," he huffed. "I'm going to the woods. See ya later."

"Don't go far," warned Milla. "It looks like rain."

* * *

Aah, this was nice. He was out in the reception area, where Oleander gives his lectures to the campers. Raz was lying stretched across the stage, watching the clouds. It was tranquil, peaceful, and altogether nice. Now, without anybody talking, he could be alone with his thoughts, of which he had a lot.

He heard a scraping across the ground, not loud but very disruptive. He sat up and saw Nawrocki walking by, dragging a large mallet behind him.

Raz raised an eyebrow. Nawrocki saw him watching.

"It's for the bears," he explained.

Raz shrugged and lay back down. "Weird," he mumbled.

Nawrocki probably heard that, but he didn't respond. He just carried on.

Raz settled back down, the scraping stopped, and he began to daydream.

He remembered his first year teaching at Whispering Rock, only the year after he'd become a Psychonaut. That year alone had been difficult. Not just being sent out on official missions, but also having to wait on the edge of his seat for the next one to come. It was like waiting for Christmas without a calendar. He still didn't get many missions, but now he could depend on the summer camp for consistent psychic activity. And good fun, too.

The first year, he hadn't gotten any respect from the kids. Most of them had been his classmates the year before, and simply didn't see him as an authority figure. He didn't really feel like an authority figure, either. Although it was satisfying to dole out some teacher discipline to Bobby Zilch. It wasn't a punch in the face, but making him scrub out the outhouses had been pretty satisfying.

"Now, Razputin," Sasha had said to him once, "You are an adult to these campers. You must be a role model to them, now. An authority figure. Your very presence must command respect."

Sasha commanded respect. When he held up his hand, a group of noisy campers quieted. When he gave out merit badges, you didn't cut loose with them right away. You acted like a civilized human being.

What is it about him that does that, Raz wondered. He'd tried to stand up straight, speak in a serious voice, and even pattern his appearance after Sasha's, but nothing he tried commanded respect. It was just something about Sasha's presence, his attitude, his own self, that did it. Someday Raz would have the experience and understanding to command that kind of respect with his presence, but not today.

There were other options. Raz remembered one of his first classes. He held it under the big tree near the kid's cabins. A good number of kids showed up: Elton, Vernon, Clem, Crystal, Elka, Dogen, Bobby, Benny… was he forgetting anyone? No… don't think so. Anyway, he was supposed to teach them to throw objects with their minds.

"Okay, campers," he said, clapping his hands. "We're going to practice lifting today. To, um, make sure you know how to do it right. How many of you have used telekinesis like this before?"

A few hands went up.

"Okay, good. Let's start." He'd tried to remember how Ford taught it to him, but drew a blank.

"See, like on this rock." He pointed to a rock sticking out of the ground. "Like, it's in the way, or something. Or, um, you need to use it… for… like, if some guy is attacking you."

Vernon said, "I remember this one time there was a kid who wanted to pick up a rock with his mind, but it turned out the rock was actually wrapped around a root and the whole tree came up and the tree fell over and landed on his house. And then he put it back but it wouldn't stay so he had to dig up some more ground to pack around it so he could put the tree back, and then he did. But then it—"

"Yes, thank you, Vernon," said Raz. "Great story. Here, let me start us off. See, I just… I just grab it…" But he couldn't get a good grip. He checked to make sure nothing was in his way, that he was close enough, that the rock had a good surface. Nope. Everything was fine.

Just then Lili showed up, sashaying to the group with a smug little smile on her face. "Hey, Raz," she said. "Yeah, I know, I'm late. What did I miss?"

"Uh, you missed one of Vernon's stories," said Raz.

Lili made a face. "Uh, _no_. I didn't _miss_ it."

"We're tryin' to watch Raz the Spaz pick up that stupid rock," said Bobby. "He's trying to be a teacher like the grown-ups or something." Bobby flailed his arms around in an imitation of a failed attempt and laughed. "This is such a waste of time!" he said, and snorted by mistake.

"Don't think I won't send you back to the outhouses like _that_," said Raz, snapping his fingers. "You may have gotten the ones here, but there's one out in the woods that has been forsaken by both man and God. So _watch it_."

"Yeah, I'm _real_ scared!" Bobby punched Benny and they both laughed.

"Come on, Raz," said Lili. "Just pick it up. You've done it a hundred times."

"I know," said Raz. He focused and grabbed the rock, feeling and getting a good grip. Then he gave it a tug, but it didn't budge.

"What now?" Lili crossed her arms and gave Raz a playfully annoyed look.

"I think it's stuck," said Dogen.

"Yes, thank you, Dogen, you're very helpful," said Raz, without breaking his concentration.

"Mmmkay," said Dogen.

"Maybe it really is stuck to the root of the tree and when he picks it up it's going to smash up the cabins, because it is we should probably warn Coach Oleander. I think he's still up there—"

Vernon was cut off when Raz finally managed to pry the rock out of the ground. The sudden lack of resistance took him off guard, and the rock went sailing through the air and landed on the roof of one of the cabins (A girls cabin, he later realized, when Nils chewed him out for ruining his opportunity to peep at the ladies. "It's the best cabin for it!" he lamented.)

"Oooh," said Raz, biting his lip.

"Wow, you got stronger," said Lili.

The other kids began to back away.

"Yeah, class dismissed," Raz mumbled, still looking at the wreck. From that day on, he'd been known as the Teacher Who Threw Rocks When Things Weren't Going Well. Legend has it that if you make him angry, he'll hurl you into the upper ionosphere, too.

It turned out all right in the end, too. He helped fix the cabin and the adults understood the perils of "first-day jitters." They'd even made him feel better by sharing embarrassing stories from their own early days as Psychonauts, or even Psicadettes. Unfortunately, they promised each other not to repeat any of the stories to anyone else, so none of them can be told here. Yeah, yeah, I know.

* * *

Raz was broken out of his inward gaze by a drop of rain on his nose. He opened his eyes and looked up. The sky was dark gray, and already a light but steady pattering of rain was coming down from the sky.

Maybe it'll let up, Raz thought as he sat up.

"I wouldn't bet on it," said Nawrocki. Raz looked around and saw him perched in a tree again. Nawrocki gave a little wave.

So Raz had to make his way back to the lodge before it really started coming down. Which was a real bummer, since there wasn't much to do inside at a summer camp like this one. Since it wasn't raining hard, he took the longest route he could manage, through the GPC area and near, but not past, the lake.

He was just passing the last branch-off when he bumped into Allie. It was surprising he didn't see her- she was carrying a giant umbrella paneled in purple and white that was louder than _she_ was. She was also wearing a heavy brown men's trench coat that was a little too big- not exactly the blending-in type. His mind was still a million miles away.

"Uh, hi," she said. "Milla asked me to see if I could find you."

"Of course she did," said Raz. "I was just coming back."

"Yeah," said Allie. "Um, can I ask you a question?"

"No, I haven't seen the Maltese Falcon," replied Raz.

"Huh?" She glanced down at her coat. "Oh, no. Different question."

She offered her umbrella and they shared it on the short walk back to the cabin.

"What's your question?" he asked.

"Does Psytanium make non-psychics psychic at all?"

"I don't know," said Raz. "You'd have to ask Sasha Nein about that."

"Could you ask him for me?"

"Why don't you ask him?"

"I already tried, I can't."

"If I see him, I'll bring it up."

"Thank you." Long pause. "Don't forget now, okay?"

"_I won't_."

They walked up the path, and she began to sing under her breath, "Drip, drip, drop, little April shower, beating a tune as you fall all around. Drip, drip, drop, little—"

"Oh, look, we're here," said Raz loudly as the approached the lodge.

"Oh, good," said Allie. She closed her umbrella, shook it, and they went inside. The rain started to pick up, but it was still a gentle little dropping outside. Drip, drip, drop indeed.

* * *

After the rain passed, the earth stayed wet and slippery. Worms came up all over from their tunnels so they wouldn't drown. Animals ventured out carefully, sniffing to find anything not masked by the downpour. There was freshness to the air that, while pleasant, would not last. Rainstorms are like nature's dryer sheets that way.

"Nawrocki didn't come inside during the rain," said Raz, looking out over the wilderness from the front steps of the lodge. "He's a plant, though, so I guess it doesn't bother him."

"My ears are burning," said Nawrocki in a singsong voice. He crawled up from under the bridge.

Raz jumped "How do you do that?"

"Magic," replied Nawrocki. And he crawled along the bridge, turned the corner of the lodge, and was out of sight again.

Raz made a mental note to never talk about Nawrocki ever again.

He went back to the wilderness where he was before, when he was interrupted by the rain. It was extremely muddy, he was expecting that. What he wasn't expecting was to see downed trees ripped from the roots, with sticks and leaves strewn about as if a hurricane had hit in that area.

Raz stepped back, and was immediately on the defensive. This wasn't right. There had been a shower, but a brief one. There had been thunder and lightning, but it had been far away. The wind wasn't even enough to push Allie's umbrella away as she walked with it.

The destruction was not natural, he realized. It was in a small, concentrated area near the swamp and Janitor Cruller's old trailer.

Whatever caused this was a force that knew what it was doing, and fully intended to cause destruction.

Raz did the best thing he could think of. He ran to get help.


	6. Analasys and Volleyball

Razputin was right to fetch highly trained Psychonauts to investigate the destruction. Right away they set to work like professionals. Oleander immediately began to check the perimeter to ensure that no unsavory characters were still lurking around. Sasha knelt down to check for psychic residue. Milla inspected the damage.

"Come here," Sasha said to Raz, and he beckoned him over.

Raz went up to Sasha, and they knelt side by side in the middle of the wreckage.

"Do you remember how I showed you to check for psychic residue?" asked Sasha.

"Uh, I think so," said Raz. "Let me see…" He reached out in his mind and began to feel around the ground. Sasha watched patiently.

The ground itself was hard. The soft dirt on top had been dug up during the assault on Mother Earth, and underneath that was hard clay and rock.

"What are you getting?" asked Sasha.

"I'm not sure…" said Raz. "There's a little bit of residue… but it might just be interference from the Psitanium…"

"Do you think that's what it is?" Sasha pressed. Now was a teaching moment, and Sasha wanted Raz to get everything he could out of it.

"No," said Raz. "This doesn't feel… natural, I guess. I'm not sure."

"Trust yourself," said Sasha.

"No," said Raz. "It's not the Psitanium. It's something else. Someone caused this to happen psychically."

"That is correct," said Sasha. "Somebody did this."

"It's such a mess," said Milla, "but it wasn't done randomly. I think somebody was trying to find something."

"How can you tell?" asked Raz.

"I can't," said Milla. "Whoever was here has left that imprint. He was not careful masking his intentions."

Oleander returned just then. "I checked the perimiter," he said, "and there's nobody here but cougars and Nawrocki. Also bears."

Sasha stood up.

"Do you think it will be safe for the campers?" asked Milla.

"Yeah," said Oleander, at the same time Sasha said, "No."

They both looked at each other. Oleander narrowed his eyes.

"You're not thinking it's a bad idea to open the camp, now, are you?" asked Oleander.

"I think that it would be foolish to bring in so many young ones to watch over in a place that's potentially dangerous," replied Sasha.

"_Potentially_ dangerous? This place _is_ dangerous, Nein. You've never had a problem with it before."

"Because we've always _seen_ the danger. It hasn't been a mystery before now. Look at this," and Sasha swept his hands over the landscape. "Do you want to be responsible if _this_ happens to the campers? Our jobs would be at stake, with the Psychonauts, and more."

"You wanna call all the campers and tell them not to come? _Tonight_? Cause they're coming tomorrow."

"No," said Sasha thoughtfully. "I don't believe that would be possible…"

"Why don't we wait for them to come," said Milla, "and explain the situation to their parents? Ultimately it would be their decision."

"Well, sure," grumbled Oleander, "if you want to be _sensible_ about it…"

"We aren't gonna have enough people to watch over the place, though," Raz piped up.

"It'll be fine," said Milla. "We haven't exhausted our resources yet. Lili Zanotto going to come up to help mind things."

"Wh-what?"

"Well, since she's been here every year, until she outgrew the camp, we thought of her when we needed an extra pair of hands," explained Milla. "You know her, don't you?"

"Well, that is, uh…"

"Oh, of course, she was your little girlfriend," Milla said with a smile.

"She was _not_ my—oh, wait," said Raz. "Yeah, she was."

"I believe we're done here," said Sasha. "I'm going to my lab to analyze this." He scooped up a handful of soil and slipped it into his pocket. "Would you like to come, Razputin?"

"_Would_ I!," Raz said excitedly.

"All right," said Milla. "We'll see you later, darling."

As Raz and Sasha walked off together, Raz suddenly thought of something. "Oh, yeah," he said. "Allie wanted me to ask you something from her."

"What is it?"

"She wanted to know if Psitanium could make a non-psychic psychic."

Sasha thought about that. "It's possible," he said. "But it takes prolong, constant exposure. It took centuries for the native animals here to develop their abilities. A human being would probably have to live here and stay here for many years before they started to develop similar abilities. And that's assuming it doesn't drive them mad. Why do you ask?"

"_She_ asked."

"Ah, that's right. Well, ask her why she asked."

"I'm not a carrier pigeon!"

* * *

So anyway, Sasha brought Raz down to the lab and they worked out the information they'd gathered together. Sasha would allow Raz to lead the discussion and only supply information when he was stuck. In this way, it felt to Raz like it was all up to him to put all of his skills to the test to search for clues and unwind the mystery.

In order to help him concentrate, Raz had put on his favorite pilot's helmet with the goggles down. He didn't usually mix it with his Psychonauts uniform, but it looked so much cooler and it made him feel confident. He was dressed more like his old self, now, the one who'd arrived at Whispering Rock all those years ago.

"So…" Raz would say slowly… "we can check how powerful the psychic was… by… by putting the information from the scene… in _this_ part of the machine?"

"Go ahead and try it," said Sasha.

Raz loosened up when Sasha urged him to try something. He wouldn't let Raz try something and fail horribly on a very expensive piece of machinery.

"Okay…" Raz looked at the printout from the machine. "It says… um, what does this mean?"

Sasha took the paper. It was something Raz had probably not seen before, so he held it so they could both see it. "The computer doesn't recognize it," he explained. "It performed an analysis but it can't interpret the results." He handed the paper to Sheegor, who always stood very nearby but out of the way. "File this under Urgent: Pending for me, please. Make two copies."

Sheegor took the paper and scurried away.

"Can we fix that?"

"I may be able to," said Sasha.

"Can I help?"

"I don't think so."

"Aw, come on!"

Just then, they heard someone enter the lab. The footsteps stopped on the glass landing leading down into the lab. Sasha and Raz looked up, and saw Allie standing there, still in her rain outfit.

"Hi," she said. "Um, Milla wants to see you all down by the lake. She sent me to find you."

"I didn't know you knew where the lab was," said Sasha.

"Well, it's like at the beginning of the game," she replied.

"What?"

"I said, Milla told me where to look."

"All right, then."

"You can all come," said Allie. "She said all of you to come."

"Mr. Pokeylope too?" asked Sheegor hopefully.

"If he wants."

"You go if you want," said Sasha. "I have to stay here and work on this."

"She said you'd say that," said Allie, pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket. "She told me to tell you… that you're going to stay up all night working on it and not solving it anyway, so you might as well have some fun. She also said to tell you that if that didn't work, then to say that there was no point in getting everyone together without the handsomest and most talented Psychonaut on the league."

Sasha looked up. After a moment, he said, "All right. I'll be right up."

"Which one should I tell her worked?"

"Let her figure it out."

Raz bounded up the steps and met up with Allie as they set off for the lake together. Sasha would be behind them shortly, if he was indeed coming.

"I asked Sasha," said Raz. "He said something like it would take a long time before something would happen, I wasn't really listening."

"Oh," she said. She twirled the belt of her trench coat- it was buttoned but untied. "You're the one I asked?"

"Uh, yeah, don't you remember?"

"I remember asking," she said. "Sort of. I'm face blind."

Raz ran his hands over his head, wondering who on earth would think that his _face_ was his most distinctive feature. But, then, he hadn't been wearing the helmet back then. That must have thrown her off.

"So, uh, why did you want me to ask Sasha about Psitanium?" he asked.

"What?"

"Why did you want me to ask Sasha about Psitanium?"

"Ask him about Psitanium causing psychicness, you mean?"

"Well, yeah, isn't that what you said?"

"Probably."

Raz thought that was a weird answer. "So why did you want me to ask him?"

"I just thought it might make an interesting plot point," she explained. "But if it wouldn't work, then never mind."

"What did you say?"

"I said, I was just curious. I like asking questions."

Raz was pretty sure that wasn't what she'd said, but just then they arrived at the lake and Milla immediately interrupted the conversation.

"Oh, Raz, darling! Allie! Over here!" she called, waving one arm at them while holding a volleyball in the other.

She was standing next to a newly erected volleyball net, regulation height and length. Oleander was already there, and when Raz looked closely it looked like he was just finishing putting it together. It figured. If anyone was going to build anything, it would be him.

"Hi, Milla," said Raz. "What's with the volleyball net?"

"We've been too gloomy lately," she said, coming up to meet them at the path. "And all this business with the woods has just made everything worse. We don't want to be sad tomorrow when the children come to see us, now, do we? So we're having a beach party! A friendly volleyball game. Won't that be fun?"

"Did it _have_ to be a beach party?" asked Raz, glancing nervously at the lake. Already he could feel the Hand of Galochio, a phenomenon only he could see, lying in wait just below the surface. It gave him the creeps.

"Oh, _still_?" asked Milla with a frown. "I didn't know you were still afraid of water. I'm sorry."

"Well, it is a curse," Raz said with a shrug. "What are ya gonna do?"

"Well, I ain't setting the net up a second time!" Oleander called from the net. "This demon-spawn masquerading as a volleyball net has caused me enough trouble! One word and I'll send it to _Hell_!"

"Morry, it isn't demon spawn," Milla called back. "You just didn't read the instructions."

"I don't _need_ instructions! When the army first gives you an M14, you don't read the instructions! This is _war_! And the enemy is that net!" And he pointed at the net for emphases.

Nawrocki slithered down one of the slender trees on the beach just then, looking at the net. "Touched in the head, is he?" he asked.

"Oh, good, you got my message too," Milla said happily.

"Did not get, actually," said Nawrocki. "What message?"

"Apparently it's a party," said Raz. "And it's mandatory."

"Mandatory volleyball?" Nawrocki said with a sneer. "Huh. So, like, is _everybody_ going to be here?"

"Absolutely," said Milla, beaming.

"Well, not really," said Nawrocki. "I can't make it."

"Oh, but you _must_, darling!"

"Yeah, sorry," said Nawrocki. "I, uh, I gotta go photosynthesize and… do plant stuff."

Milla wagged her finger. "Oh, no, mister," she lectured. "We're all going to do this. It's teambuilding! Trust me, it's going to be fabulous."

"Um, I can't either," Allie said timidly. "My, um, my knee, it can't really take impact that well. I'm not supposed to do stuff like this."

"Liar," said Nawrocki.

"If you're worried about your knee," said Milla, "Then you can keep score."

"Can I call the game?"

"Sure!"

"Great," said Nawrocki. "Well, you've got a scorekeeper, you won't need me—"

Nawrocki turned around as he spoke, and found himself face-to-face with Sasha. Sheegor was behind him, carrying Mr. Pokeylope. Sheegor looked incredibly nervous being outside, but ever so eager to participate in the party.

"Going somewhere?" asked Sasha.

"Yeah," said Raz. "He had to go do plant stuff."

"Really," said Sasha. He looked down at Nawrocki over his dark glasses and frowned. "If I'm going to play, then _you're_ going to play," he said.

Nawrocki grinned nervously. "But, uh, I can play if you want." Something about Sasha clearly gave Nawrocki the creeps.

"Well, are we yappin' or are we playin'?" Oleander barked. "The sooner we get this started, the sooner we can get this done."

"That's the spirit," said Sasha with no enthusiasm.

They split into two teams- boys on one side, girls on the other, and Nawrocki evening out the sides. Allie perched up on a rock with a small slate.

"Razputin steps back," she said. "It looks like he's going to serve first. Ooh, and it's over the net! The game has begun!"


	7. Just Because You're Crazy

"Superstar Volleyball Goddess Milla Vodello has the first serve, and it's clean over the net. Raz hits it back- nice use of psychic hands, by the way, I was sure he was going to miss it- and the ball bounces off Sheegor's head. Looks like the little lab assistant wasn't paying enough attention.

"Okay, next serve. It's over the net! It's heading right towards Sasha. He spikes it back- it's already been hit- back- forth- back-forth! Now it's on fire for some reason! Who's doing that!"

"Who's the joker?" demanded Milla, holding the flaming volleyball in midair and glaring at the boys on the other side of the net.

"Wasn't me!" said Oleander defensively.

"Nor me," said Sasha.

Razputin didn't say anything. Instead, he was trying hard not to laugh.

"I think that's a penalty," said Allie. "Milla, is there a volleyball penalty for setting the ball in play on fire?"

"I think that falls under 'interfering with play,'" she said. "Was it you, Razputin?"

Raz couldn't answer- he was still laughing.

Milla moved the ball over the lake and dunked it in the water. "Allie, could you get me another ball from my duffel bag?"

She jumped off the rock and hopped to it.

"What's the matter?" Milla asked Raz. "Aren't you enjoying the game?"

"How could you _say_ that?" Raz said indignantly. "This game is _hot_!" And he doubled over with laughter.

"Come on," said Allie. "I can't call the game if you keep doing weird psychic stuff, yeah?"

"Seriously, though," said Raz, wiping his eye. "It wasn't me."

"You lie!"

"Some of us are actually trying to have a good time!" added Nawrocki hotly.

"No, you're not," said Raz.

"I didn't say _I_ was," Nawrocki said defensively. "But they clearly are," and he indicated Milla and Sheegor, and then Allie.

"Who's serve?" asked Allie.

"Mine," said Oleander.

"It's not actually—" Milla started.

"Then whose is it?"

"I forget now," said Milla.

"Then give me the ball! Let's keep this moving, people! Move! Move!"

"Oleander serves the ball over the net. It's over Milla's head! What a serve! And her big psychic arm bats it back! Nice moves out there! And it's back to the boy's side. Right to Raz, who is… staring out at the lake? Ooh, Sasha dives in at the last minute and spikes it back over the net. Nice save!"

Sasha wiped the sweat off his forehead. "What are you doing?" he asked shortly.

"I thought I saw something," Raz said distantly, still staring over the water.

"If you stop staring at it, maybe it won't bother you so much," said Sasha.

"I guess you're right," Raz said. Ignoring the water was one of the hardest things he could do, but it was something that he would have to eventually learn. His father had taught him that cursor not water was something that he was going to have to get used to. His father wasn't afraid of the water. Raz wondered why.

A volleyball bounced off the top of his head, jerking him out of his thoughts.

"And a volleyball has spiked Razputin on the head!" Said Allie joyfully. "Ladies and gentlemen, in all my years of commentating things that I see, I've never seen anything quite is hilarious is that. Except for one time in a chess match back in 19... I forget exactly when..."

"Sorry," said Raz. "I was just thinking about stuff."

"Ah," said Oleander. "I know how distracting 'stuff' can be."

"Oh, come on!" said a new, very familiar voice. "If this is how you boys playing volleyball, then I can't wait to see you showing the campers how!"

It was Lili Zanotto. After all this time, there was still something about her, something that kept bringing Raz his thoughts back to her. Ever since they were ten years old at Whispering Rock, trying to convince each other that they wanted nothing to do with each other, his mind had still been drawn back to her. She looked very much the same, older and more mature, but still with the same noseless face and striking red hair. Something about people never changed. That's how you could recognize them when they wear different clothes.

"Lili!" Said Milla. "You're just in time to join our little teambuilding volleyball game."

"Lucky me," said Lili. "Look, I just drove seven hours to get here, can't I just sit down?"

"You can't keep score," Allie called. "I'm doing that."

"Nobody wants to keep score, Allie!" Raz shouted back. "Uh, look, can I help you get your luggage or anything?"

"Sure," said Lili. "I'm parked in the lot by the gate."

She and Raz went off together.

"Well, if he's not playing, then I'm not playing," said Olenader. "And that other monster we hired is already gone."

"So much for teambuilding," sighed Milla. "Well, if you still want to play, Sasha—"

"Of course," said Sasha. "I would hate to disappoint you, after all."

* * *

Raz and Lili walked down the path through the woods together, catching up on old times already.

"So, what exactly happened?" asked Lili. "I just got a message saying that they were shorthanded and needed people to work here this summer."

"Ford Cruller died," said Raz.

Lili looked surprised. "Oh," she said. Then she looked at her feet as they walked. She wasn't really sure what to say- she didn't know Ford that well except as the crazy old coot who worked everywhere at camp, but she knew what a good agent he had been and what a good mentor he was to Raz. She didn't have much experience with these things, either.

"What happened?" she asked, knowing full well it was probably an inappropriate question. Curiosity had a way of getting the better of good judgment, especially in youth.

"They say he just got old," said Raz. "I overheard the others talking, and they said it might have been a stroke or something. But you know what I think? I don't think it was that at all."

Lili raised an eyebrow. "Oh, no?"

"No," said Raz. "When I went to his sanctuary with Sasha, the glass on the stand where he worked was cracked. Like, it spiderwebbed all the way out to the end. It was freaky, like some giant hammer crashed down on it. I think something happened, and somebody's trying to cover it up."

"I don't know, Raz," said Lili. "I mean, the agents here are pretty sharp. I think they might be able to see through something like that."

"Maybe," said Raz. "If I could just look around a little more, I think I could get to the bottom of it."

"Why don't you?"

"The sanctuary's blocked off," he explained. "If I opened it up again, Sasha would find out and I'd get in trouble."

"Then, don't you think there's a good reason for that?"

"Look, I know how this sounds, but—"

Lilli stopped and swung around in front of him. "I don't think you do!" she said, in a voice mixed with frustration and anxiety. Anxtration? Frustriety? No matter. "Raz, even if you found out something else happened, that wouldn't make him any less dead!"

"But if there are bad guys out there, we have to stop them. I'm a Psychonaut, it's my duty!"

"If they're _out there_, then Nein and Vodello will do what agents do! They can't stay hidden forever!"

"I can't just wait! Ford's dead, and I think someone's responsible!"

"So, what, you have to catch them before he becomes _more_ dead?"

"You don't understand, Lili," Raz said coldly. "You didn't know him like I did."

"Maybe not," Lili shot back, "but that doesn't mean I don't care."

_He's lost his mind, _Lili thought. _Great! My boyfriend's gone completely crazy. Now what do I do?_

"I can hear that," said Raz.

Lili clapped her hands over her mouth. "I didn't mean it!" she squawked.

"Yes, you did," Raz sighed. "I'll find out who killed Ford. And when I do, maybe I'll be too much of a gentleman to gloat. Maybe." He turned on his heels and trudged away.

Nawrocki twisted himself around on the tree, just now standing out against the foliage. "A real gentleman would have stayed to help with your luggage like he said he would," he observed.

Lili turned, saw him on the tree, and screamed.

"Oh, how rude of me," said Nawrocki. "I didn't introduce myself. My name is Nawrocki. I'm the new ranger. I come from another dimension where plants are like animals and animals are like small kitchen appliances." He held out a leafy hand.

Hand shaking, Lili took it and shook hello.

"Lili Zanotto," she said, her voice trembling. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scream like that."

"I get that all the time," said Nawrocki. "Didn't mean to scare you. But anyway, don't worry about your boyfriend."

"He's not my—oh, wait."

"Yeah," he continued, "it's all natural. Part of the grieving process. There are seven stages. Denial, anger… something, something… go crazy… fear, gluttony, envy, lust, sloth, wrath—"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Lili interrupted. "Somewhere along the way you switched to the seven deadly sins, and 'go crazy' isn't on either of them."

"Would you rather me tell you that Raz is on the fast track to Thorny Towers?"

"… What was the third stage?"

"It was 'something something.'"


	8. Does it Make You Wrong?

_I'm back from Disney World and back in your lives! Also, I've cured some of the issues interfering with my creativity. I can't wait to finish this, but it's a little ways away. Also, it would be funny if the Psychonauts went to Disney World._

* * *

Raz was leaning back in a seat in the tree house that stood in the middle of the Kid's Cabin Area. Any minute now the busloads of children would arrive, signaling the official start of camp. He was spending a few minutes to himself, clearing his mind so it would be ready for swarms of unstable children to enter it. Then learning would probably happen.

"Raz, can I talk to you?"

He opened one eye and saw Allie standing in the doorway to the to the tree house. She was wearing her Greek fisherman's cap, with the brim pulled over her eyes so he couldn't try to make eye contact.

"Uh, yeah, what's up?" He sat up and looked at her eyes as best he could.

"Yeah, I just wanted to tell you something important," she said. "Won't take a second."

Just then, Sasha stepped up onto the platform, nudged her aside, and entered the tree house. She jumped a mile when he touched her and scuttled away.

"Razputin," said Sasha, "You should be moving along now. The campers will be up here soon."

"When do I get to start my class?" he asked. "Tomorrow morning, or do I need to give an orientation tonight?"

"I need to speak to you about that," Sasha replied. "It's very… important. Something I'm certain you don't want to hear."

His heart sank into his stomach. "Then why are you telling me?"

"Because I drew the short straw."

Sasha sat down next to Raz for a moment, but then stood up. Raz stayed seated, thus making a dynamic where Sasha was in charge. That was the way it needed to be, for this to work at all.

"Raz, we're postponing your class for the time being," he said.

Raz jumped up. "What? No way! I already fixed the bugs from last year! I showed you! I thought everything was fine."

Sasha reached a psychic hand out and gently pushed Raz back into his seat. "It is not about that," he said. "Simply put, we aren't sure you're ready to be back to work here. Your current state of unbalance could cause undue distress to the camp and it's structure. Not to mention the campers."

"Unbalance?" he said, confused. "What are you—Lili! It was her, wasn't it?"

"Lili did mention a conversation, yes," said Sasha. "At first I thought you were handling this admirably. I wasn't certain about you spending too much time by yourself, but I wasn't particularly concerned until I heard you continued to believe Ford's death was part of some conspiracy."

"It _had_ to be!" Raz interjected. "There's just no other—"

"There _is_ another explanation," said Sasha firmly. "I'd like to meet with you, in private, before the end of the day. Just to test whether you've gone insane or not. It's a quick procedure, really, not a big deal."

"Not a big _deal_?" Raz said. He was trying not to shout, but his voice was raised higher than he would like. He couldn't help it; he was just too upset. "The greatest man the Psychonauts ever had is _dead_ and the only one who cares is labeled insane? I thought Psychonauts had to stick together! We all know what it's like to be an outsider, an outcast. Now you're casting me out because of this?"

"Keep your voice down, Razputin," said Sasha, in that irritatingly calm way that only makes you madder.

"You can't make me!" Childish, sure, but he was way beyond rational comebacks at this point. He was almost in tears, he was so frustrated and angry.

"Razputin!" Sasha's voice boomed all of a sudden, and Raz quieted down. Then, in his normal voice, "I'm going back to my lab. Come see me as soon as you are ready."

He turned and left. Raz slid back down into his seat and covered his face in his hands.

"Tough break," said Nawrocki. Raz didn't react- he was now used to Nawrocki appearing out of nowhere. Raz figured out that his plant-like appearance was giving him the ability to camouflage in the camp's natural surroundings. He still hadn't figured out why he was following them.

He got up and started slowly trudging towards Sasha's secret lab. Oh well, he thought, don't want to put it off too much. He stared at his feet as he walked, all the way down the ramp and onto the path, so he didn't see Lili until he bumped into her.

"Watch where you're going," she said, more as a knee-jerk reaction than from actual irritation. Raz looked up and she said, "Oh, hi, Raz."

"Hi yourself," Raz said irately. "Are you happy now that you got me kicked out of being a teacher?"

"What?" Lili took a moment to realize what he was talking about. Then she sighed. "Raz, I had to do something," she pleaded. "You were acting like a crazy person back there. I was worried about you." She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a cute smile that he usually found irresistible.

This time, he picked her hand up by the wrist and dropped it by her side. "I don't need you to worry about me," he said coldly. "And I don't need your pity."

"It's _not_ pity," she replied. Her cheeks flushed. "I really care about you, Raz. I wanted to help you."

"If you wanted to help me, you'd help me figure out what's going on around here," said Raz. "I thought you liked these real psychic emergencies. I thought they gave this camp life. 'How many times have I come here and never seen what this place had to offer?' Didn't you once say something like that?"

"That was different," Lili said. "Something was actually _happening_ then."

"Something's happening _now,_" said Raz. "Why were you so quick to believe it back then? Because you saw it yourself?"

"If Sasha and Milla had been here, and they told me nothing was going on, I wouldn't have done anything." She fidgeted- she wasn't sure she was telling the truth. She steadied herself and said, "Besides… I was a lot younger then. You know how it is when you're a kid, you know."

"No," Raz said, brushing past her. "I never was a kid. I was always a Psychonaut."

Lili shuddered when he said that. "Be careful, Raz," she said after him. He didn't answer.

* * *

Lili found Milla in the lodge. She was levitating over one of the tables. She looked around, and there was no one else in the room. Lili walked up to the table and slid into the bench.

"Well, hello, darling," said Milla without opening her eyes. "How are you?"

Lili sighed. "I've been better," she said. "Milla, can I talk to you?"

Milla opened her eye. "About what?"

"About men."

Milla laughed. "Oh, that," she said lightly. She lowered herself in a sitting position onto the table. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Are all men crazy?" asked Lili.

"No," said Milla. "Only the good ones."

Lili snickered.

"You liked that one, did you?"

"Okay," said Lili. "What if a guy is mad at you because you don't support him, but he's doing something completely crazy that you couldn't in your right mind support him in?"

Milla nodded. "Ah," she said knowingly. "I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you a story."

Lili leaned over, resting her chin in her fists with her elbows on the table. She looked up at Milla as the story began.

"I was in love with a man once," she said. "He was a scientist. A very smart one, and incredibly handsome, too. We were crazy about each other back then. Then one day I found out he was working on a project- let's just say it was a very unorthadox project. I didn't know much about science but I knew a bad idea when I heard one. I told him not to, and he kept doing it. He said it was for the good of Science, and I wouldn't understand such things. He just wouldn't listen to reason."

"What happened?"

Milla laughed as she finished the story. "He ended up fusing his body with a chicken! He looked like some sort of monster from an old folk tale. The people in the lab called him Chickenman for months!"

Lili laughed, too. "Oh, wow, that's bad!" she said. "What happened to him?"

"We went out for a little while longer," said Milla. "It just didn't work out between us, though, you know? Completely unrelated to his chickeny mishaps. My point is, darling, even if you don't love all of a man's actions, it doesn't necessarily mean you don't love the man. And if something terrible happens to him, like he gets turned into a chicken-man, then that's when he needs you the most. Does that help?"

"Yeah," said Lili. "It kinda does." Then she snickered. "Chickenman, that's funny."


	9. Brain Tumbling

Raz had his hands jammed in his pockets as he walked through the forest. He was mad. Like, really, _really_ mad. He was so angry that things around him were smoking. When he got angry, he couldn't control his pyrokinesis very well. Psychics give a whole new meaning to the expression, "steaming mad." Either that, or it was invented because of them.

He kicked a rock as hard as he could. The rock emitted a loud croak of distress and began to hop away. It wasn't a rock at all; it was a frog, and if Raz hadn't been so angry he would have seen that. Who cares about a stupid frog, anyway? He thought that to himself bitterly as he continued on. It probably didn't even bother the frog that much. They're very resilient creatures.

When he got near the GPC, he wondered if he should even go in. After all, why waste valuable time in Sasha's lab proving him wrong when he could be solving this tangled mystery. Not to mention he didn't want to talk to Sasha- after all, it was Sasha Raz was so angry with. In reality, he was angry with everyone.

Everyone except Ford, that is. If Ford were here… he thought. Ford would have believed him. That thought was reassuring, even if it did create a paradox. No point in splitting hairs. It was the only comfort Raz had. He took a deep breath and started up the ramp.

When he got into the lab, Sasha was busy tinkering with the Brain Tumbler.

"Ah, Razputin," Sasha said in a moderately friendly tone. "I'm glad you came."

"Where's Sheegor?" asked Raz.

"I sent her on an errand," said Sasha. "I thought it should be just you and me for this."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Raz was trying to look as bored and distanced as possible. As a moody teenager, he was very good at it by now.

"Why don't we start with this?" asked Sasha, tapping the Brain Tumbler. "A look inside your mind might be all that is needed. Step up whenever you're ready."

Press FORWARD on the control stick to—

Never mind. Anyway, Raz turned around, lowered his goggles, and stepped up to the brain tumbler.

* * *

Raz's mind was very different from before. Gone was the lonely isolation of his childhood, symbolized by a vast emptiness and a lone gypsy cart. With the increased socialization, the broadening of his horizons, and the realization of a dream, his mind had become a bustling hub of activity. To one side was the circus, distant but present. To another was the camp, only larger and thick with wilderness. He was somehow in the middle of the city, even though it was like a skyline painted on wallpaper, flat and distant. All around him were signs leading to the Psychonauts. There was even a clearly defined ground and sky, although they were dark and similar in tone.

In the center of it all was the gypsy cart.

"Okay," said Raz. "I'm in my mind… what do you want now?"

"What do you see?" asked Sasha.

"A lot of things," said Raz. "The Psychonauts HQ… the camp… the circus… it's kind of over stimulating, actually."

"Does anything stand out to you particularly?" asked Sasha.

"Not really," said Raz, looking around. "It all kind of blends together." He squinted, and rubbed his eyes. Now that he tried to focus on things, he realized he couldn't. Everything was fuzzy, as if he needed glasses. The edges blurred and ran into other objects.

"Actually," Raz said, half amused, "It literally _does_ blend together. Everything's kind of blurry."

"_Compelling," said Sasha. "See if you can locate something that _isn't_ blurred."_

Raz began to walk forward. No matter how far he walked, he always remained in the central hub of activity. There was a large, empty space directly around him. When he walked towards the buildings, they got further away. When he turned to the circus, it backed up.

"I can't get close to anything," said Raz.

"Nothing?" asked Sasha.

"No. Wiat—" Raz turned in an arbitrary direction and began to walk. The buildings moved forward, but the figure stayed where it was. The figure! There was someone standing there, Raz could see him clearly. It was Ford.

"Ford!" Raz cried happily.

"What?" Ford turned quickly and looked around. "Who's there? I told you them burgers ain't ready yet! Now g'wan and git!"

"Is it Ford Cruller?" asked Sasha.

"Oh, it's you, Razputin," said Ford. He visibly relaxed.

"Yeah," said Raz. "I didn't recognize him at first, but he isn't blurry like everything else."

"Can you approach him?" asked Sasha.

Raz stepped forward, expecting Ford to move backwards with the scenery. But he didn't. Raz approached until he was standing right in front of Ford and looked him in the eye.

"Yeah," said Raz. "I'm standing right in front of him."

"It's just a part of your mind," said Sasha. "The part of Ford you'll always carry around with you, the memory, manifests itself in your psyche. It isn't really him."

"Now, don't you listen to him, Raz," said Ford. "Sasha's a good Psychonaut and all, but he doesn't always have it together. Y'see, I'm still your psychic stowaway."

"But how?"

"I attached part of myself to you so I could always check up on you," said Ford. "So even now I'm following you around."

"_Tell me what's happening now," said Sasha. "Is he saying anything?"_

"He says he's still stowing away with me," said Raz.

"That isn't possible," said Sasha.

Ford looked up. "What are you saying isn't possible? It's happening, isn't it?"

"What happened, Ford?" asked Raz urgently. He was excited now. This was the best chance he could ask for to figure this out, and he was ready to grab it.

"I'm not sure," said Ford. "I was checking up on one of the monitors… nothin' you need to concern yourself with… when suddenly I was attacked by a giant psychic force, the likes of which I'd never seen before!"

"Of course!" Raz pounded his fist on his palm. "It's the only possible explanation! Who was it, sir?"

"I couldn't tell," said Ford. "But I know he didn't act alone. Too much psychic activity for one individual. It could have been _anyone_. If you ask me, that new creature from that other dimension is mighty suspicious. And Oleander is none too stable, even these days." He looked left, then right, and gestured for Raz to lean in close. He whispered, "I can't even rule out Sasha or Milla… it was just too perfect."

"No!" Raz yelped. "Not them!"

"What is he telling you?" asked Sasha.

"Don't say anything!" Ford gestured wildly trying to calm Raz down. "If I'm right and they _are_ in on it, there's no way you could face 'em! You're the only one I can trust."

"I won't let you down, Agent Cruller!" said Raz proudly. "I'll consider this an official assignment."

"Razputin, listen to me!" Sasha called urgently. "He isn't telling you anything. It's just your mind revealing what you already think."

"That isn't true," said Ford. "I'm really here. You can trust me."

"I know it's difficult," said Sasha. "You must face this vision and tell it that it is not real."

"You wouldn't do that, would you?" asked Ford innocently.

"_Razputin? Can you hear me?"_

"Listen to me, Razputin!"

"_Razputin!"_

"Razputin!"

"SASHA!"

The third voice surprised Raz because it didn't belong to Ford or Sasha. It belonged to Sheegor. All of a sudden his mental world disappeared, throwing him back into the real world with such force he had to step forwards to regain his balance.

"What's going on?" asked Raz.

"Mr. Oleander sent me!" Sheegor cried urgently. "He said to tell you exactly: War's been declared on our camp, the enemy set fire to the main lodge and he needs all available troops down to control the blaze. Move, move, move! That's what he told me to tell you."

Raz put his goggles on. "Let's go," he said seriously.

Sasha nodded and they both took off.

* * *

_I did accidentally kick a frog once when I was really upset, and I'm happy to report that it didn't seem to hurt it very much. Funny story, actually..._


	10. They Didn't Start the Fire

It took almost an hour for the fire department to make it all the way out to Whispering Rock. The blaze had mostly been controlled by then, with every psychic hand available moving as much water as possible over to the building and dousing the fire. It had taken all of that hour simply to keep the fire under control; they hadn't even had a chance to really work on putting it out.

Raz's psychic water scoop kept leaking, and by the time he carried it all the way over to the building it was mostly empty. Lili was much better at it, and she stood right next to him, doing exactly what he was doing only much better. It got on his nerves, but at least that distracted him from how much he _really_ didn't want to be anywhere near the water.

Sasha's concentration was impeccable and he was able to move large amounts of water at a time and spread it out where it was needed most, even applying enough pressure to the blaze the way a fire hose would, although he wasn't nearly as strong as one.

Milla had rounded up the campers at the very beginning and brought them all to the cabins. She stayed there with them, entertaining them and making sure they were safe. Although she was for the most part over her personal trauma, an event like this was just enough to trigger deep-set stress and anxiety, and the best she could do for the camp and herself was to stay with the children.

Nawrocki had left at the beginning to go find help. "There's not much help I could do here, seeing as I'm the most flammable of us all," he'd said. "I'll do what I can by rallying the troops!" And he'd disappeared into the wilderness before anyone had a chance to object.

Oleander saved his bunnies first, and then spent the rest of the time moving water and shouting generic drill sergeant motivational phrases at the rest of them. It was beginning to grind on Raz's nerves, but he channeled it into getting better at holding onto water.

The fire department arrived, as well as the police, and after that it seemed as if in a matter of minutes the fire was almost gone. Before the night was over, they were able to determine that the fire came from the kitchen- but _not_ from the oven.

"That's weird," Raz said when he overheard the news. "What could start a fire in the kitchen aside from the oven?"

"I don't know," said Lili, who was still next to him. "Maybe the stove?"

"The oven and the stove are the same thing," Raz told her.

"No, they're not," Lili argued. "The stove is the top and the oven is the inside."

"Yeah, but they _mean_ it the same," said Raz. "I mean, if the fire came from the stove, they wouldn't bother saying that it didn't come from the oven, would they? They'd just say the fire came from the stove. They'd expect that so they wouldn't bother making a big deal about it not coming from the oven when it came from the same exactly likely place."

"What the _hell_ are you talking about?"

"Someone set the fire on purpose," said Raz. "It was… what's the word? Where someone sets something on fire on purpose?"

"Pyromania?"

"No, the other word."

"Arson."

"Yeah, that one. It was arson. Sasha's checking right now to see if the fire was set pyrokinetically. I'll bet this was done by the same one that murdered Ford Cruller and smashed up the forest for some reason!"

"No one murdered Ford Cruller!" Lili cried out in exasperation.

"Then how do you explain the crack in the glass, and the sudden fire, and the fact that he was _still_ one of the greatest psychics in the world?"

"Glass is fragile, Allie can't cook, and Ford was old!"

"Glass is surprisingly sturdy, Allie's cooking is standard to excellent, and Ford was _one of the greatest psychics in the world_!"

"Stop yelling at me!"

"Okay!"

They stood staring each other down for a moment, suddenly out of breath. Raz then sagged his shoulders.

"Sorry. I got carried away."

"Me, too," said Lili. "So… I'm sorry too."

They both nodded, silently agreeing that they were no longer angry at each other. Lili tilted her head and looked at Raz- she didn't want to be angry at him. She was sure she was still in love with him. So she decided to take Milla's advice and just be there for him.

"I don't know what to do," said Raz, seemingly out of nowhere.

"You can't do anything tonight," Lili replied.

"I know, but what do I _do_?"

"Come on," said Lili, grinning mischievously. She reached out and took his hand. "Let's go back to the teacher's cabin. The other's won't be there for a while, they're still dealing with the fire."

Raz made a face and pulled his hand away. "No way," he said. "I'm not going with you if you still think I'm crazy."

"I don't care," said Lili. "I just want to be here for you."

"If you want to be here for me, you can help me solve this mystery," said Raz.

"Tomorrow," Lili promised, even though she had no intention of helping him. "Let's just have fun tonight."

Raz frowned, still suspicious. "You never want to have fun."

"It's been a while."

"I don't have any—"

"I do." She smiled. "Come on," she said. "Forget about this. There's nothing you can do tonight, so why worry?"

"I need to stay in complete focus," said Raz. "I can't afford to get distracted to the point where I loose focus on the goal. If I loose sight, I'll loose my place and spend the rest of my life tying up loose ends trying to put everything together while it unravels while I should have been already doing but I lost focus because—"

Lili leaned forward and kissed him. Raz shut up right away and returned the kiss. When they broke apart, he said, "Well, maybe for tonight…"

* * *

It was two in the morning before Sasha got a break. After the fire department had decided the scene was safe and the police had finished their report, Sasha lay down on the picnic table bench to catch his breath and catch his thoughts.

As he was lying down, the picnic table slowly leaned to the left. Sasha sat up and saw Nawrocki tunneling his roots into the ground under the bench.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" asked Nawrocki. He grinned, showing his soft little teeth.

"Where have you been?" asked Sasha.

"North on the highway," said Nawrocki. "I found this truck with this guy, but the he ran over my root and I was all like, 'forget it.'"

"The highway runs east to west," Sasha said flatly.

"Well, I have a rotten sense of direction," Nawrocki replied lightly. "It's awful dark at night."

"Where have you been all night?" Sasha asked. "Just up and down the highway?"

"I'm sorry I couldn't help," replied Nawrocki sweetly. "Have you been working in your lab a lot? That's more my department."

"Yes," replied Sasha. "Based on my current research, I'm nowhere near finding the link to other dimensions."

"That's too bad," said Nawrocki. "I coulda sworn you were. Are you going to be around here for a while?"

"Why are you asking me this?"

Nawrocki shrugged. "I thought maybe we could talk. You never talk to me anymore."

Right now Sasha wanted to be as far away from Nawrocki as possible, however, he had been around kids long enough to know when someone was up to something. Nawrocki was most definitely up to something.

"You're in a rotten mood," said Nawrocki. "It's been a rotten night. I should let you be alone to get a good night's sleep. Is there anything I can do to help you, now that I'm back?"

"Go back to the woods," Sasha replied carefully. "And keep an eye out for anything suspicious or unusual."

"Yessir," said Nawrocki. "By the way, did you find out anything interesting about the fire?"

"Yes," said Sasha. "It was started pyrokinetically."

Nawrocki nodded once. "I guess that means no one is safe, doesn't it?"

"Someone is trying to do something." Sasha looked up. The moon was out, still in it's waxing phase. It looked like a sinister grin turned on its side. "I don't know what, or why, and I don't completely understand how… but someone is trying to do something."

Nawrocki nodded once again.

Sasha looked back at Nawrocki. "You cannot tell Razputin that I said that. He would just get carried away with it, take it out of context. He's already unstable as it is, right now. I'm very worried about him."

Nawrocki made a zip-your-lip gesture. "Won't tell a soul."

"No just don't tell Razputin."

"What, doesn't he have a soul?"

Nawrocki slithered back into the ground.

"Now, _there's_ a mind I wouldn't mind getting near my brain tumbler…" Sasha thought out loud. And he most certainly was not cracking a joke. You should know that about him by now.


	11. The Right Track

The next day, Razputin woke up early to sit on the steps of the cabin. It was just after dawn, and the trees hadn't yet allowed light to come through just yet. This time of day was tranquil, and it allowed thoughts to flow through Raz's mind more freely. He certainly had a lot to think about: Who killed Ford? Was it the same person who tore up the forest? Did the person who tore up the forest also set the fire? Was it all part of some kind of conspiracy? Why did they do it? What were they after? He'd have plenty of time to think about it- Sasha still wasn't allowing him to participate in class. He was supposed to take up a job as a janitor or something until he stopped being insane. And who knew how long _that _would take?

Dogen came shuffling up to Raz and sat down next to him. They hadn't seen each other yet this summer, but both of them had been there every summer since they met. Dogen was the youngest of Raz's first campmates, and right now was on the very top of the age cap and still attended as a student. Over the years he'd learned to control his powers. He only wore his special hat when he was stressed, or at least in a potentially stressful situation, and he was past his phase where he burned everything he looked at. Still a bit slow and spacy, he looked up to Raz and they were still pretty good friends.

"Hey, Raz," said Dogen.

"Hey, Dogen," said Raz sadly.

"Is it true what they're saying?"

"Yeah." Raz put his chin on his fists. "They say I've gone completely crazy and I can't teach anymore."

"No, I mean about the lodge."

"Oh. Yeah, the lodge burned down."

"I didn't do it," said Dogen blankly.

"You weren't even there."

"I know, it's just usually I did it."

"No, this time it was someone else."

"That's why I still wear this special hat."

"That's nice."

"I'd ask if you want to try it on but people get loud when I do that."

Raz sighed. Talking to Dogen was the conversational equivalent of a dog who didn't realize his leash was wrapped around a tree. Still, he was a good listener, and a comfort to have as a friend.

"Why do they say you're crazy?" asked Dogen.

Raz didn't know what to say, so he sighed again to buy him time to answer. "Because Ford Cruller was murdured, and I'm the only one who believes it."

"Who's Ford Cruller?"

"You know, he was the greatest leader the Psychonauts ever had. He was also the janitor, ranger, boathouse admiral, and chef."

Dogen reached into his pocket and pulled out a lightly toasted bagel. "If the chef is dead, who made this bagel?"

"Well, we hired a new chef, Dogen."

"Oh." He took a bite out of the bagel. "This is good, though."

"Yeah, she's a whiz with a toaster." Raz stood up and brushed off his pants. "Well, I'm going out to look for more clues. Want to come?"

"No, I have to go to the coach's class. Maybe later."

Raz left into the forest, leaving Dogen sitting by himself on the steps. After a moment, Lili came out. She was wearing a big fuzzy robe, her hair was untied and mussed, and some of her makeup that didn't wash off the night before was smeared across her right cheek. She looked tired, like she hadn't quite woken up yet.

"Did I hear you talking?" she asked in a froggy voice, rubbing one of her eyes.

"Yeah," said Dogen. "Raz was just here."

Lili perked up a bit. "Really? Where did he go?"

"I dunno."

Lili shook her head. "Well, if you see him again, tell him I'm looking for him."

"Mmkay."

Lili ducked back inside the cabin to clean up. Dogen, meanwhile, sat on the stairs, where he would remain until someone told him to do something else.

* * *

Raz was in the woods, at the same place where he'd found the destruction. It was more or less untouched, trees knocked down and spread across the ground, earth torn up and scattered, and animals not coming within ten meters of the area. Something about it disturbed them. Maybe it disturbed their psychic senses? Or their ordinary, heightened animal senses? What could the animals feel that he couldn't?

He knelt down. Ford had taught him once that letting answers come to you was easier than chasing them down. Of course, he was pretty old and worn out at the time he'd said that so it might not be the best advice, but it was Ford's and Raz was dedicated to following it.

So... where were the answers?

He looked at the ground. There was a large empty space in the middle of the chaos. The ground where the trees used to be was bare and softened. Loose soil. A dent. A large dent, sort of like a wussy little crater. Dug, maybe? Someone was _digging_? What were they digging for? It was a big dent, so it must have been something big.

What was under this part of the woods?

Raz jumped up. There were only two possiblities: either someone was looking for buried treasure, or trying to get to one of the secret rooms the Whispering Rocket Underground Transit Something-or-Other went to. Ford's Sanctuary. Ford's Sanctuary which was blocked off. Someone was trying to get there, and whatever he wanted, he wanted it desperately.

He ran straight to Sasha's lab. Sasha might think he was insane, but if he saw the proof Raz had it might be enough to let him use the equipment.

"Sasha!" he hollared as he made his way down the stairs. He made his turns so tight that on the fourth angle he lost his footing and fell the rest of the way to the floor. He landed flat on his back, winded, looking up Sheegor's nose.

"Hi, Sheegor."

"Mr. Sasha isn't in right now, he's out teaching class" she said. "But maybe I can help you? Maybe? Please?"

"Uh, yeah," said Raz. "Where does Sasha keep his computer?"

"It folds under on that console by the brain tumbler," said Sheegor, "but nobody's supposed to touch it except for Mr. Sasha."

"That's right," said Mr. Pokeylope, climbing to perch on the top of Sheegor's hump. "Ain't nobody but Sasha Nein allowed to touch that fine piece of machinary."

"Yeah," said Raz. "Um, can I use it?"

"Okay!" chirped Sheegor happily.

"Baby, that ain't how it's done," Mr. Pokeylope said to her.

"But Raz is so _nice_," Sheegor protested. "He has to have a good reason to use it."

Raz flipped the computer open. It was a flatscreen built right into the rest of his console, with a keyboard under it and a trackball next to that. Raz clicked down on the trackball and a screen prompted:

USERNAME: SNEIN

PASSWORD:

Well, at least half of that was taken care of. But what was the password? Raz thought carefully. What would the secret word be that would allow access to the secret computer in Sasha's lab.

On a whim, Raz typed in the word _redbutton_.

The password was accepted.

"Wow," said Raz. "It's a good thing he didn't have a combination of upper and lowercase letters and numbers."

He looked over the screen, hand poised over the trackball. He couldn't tell what anything was, so he clicked on files and opened documents until he stumbled on a 3D rendered map of Whispering Rock. Handy indeed. Both the lodge and the wooded areas had been flagged for further inspection. Raz clicked and held down on the trackball, and rotated the diagram. He clicked and fiddled until he somehow got a map of the underground transit superimposed on the above-ground map.

It was just as he'd suspected. The site of destruction was right over the sanctuary.

Raz's heart started to pound. It was all coming together. Actually, it wasn't, but it was proof that he was on the right track. Something was in the sanctuary, and someone out there wanted it. Raz grabbed a slip of paper from under the console and scribbled down a map. It would take him forever to figure out how to unlock the system, and twice as long to re-lock it. Maybe he could crawl through the tunnel instead.

Raz shut down the computer and flipped it away. "Thanks, Sheegor. Um, you won't tell Sasha about this, will you?"

Sheegor was off in a corner, playing with Mr. Pokeylope.

Great, thought Raz. That takes care of that. He jumped down the tree stump in the corner of Sasha's lab, landing next to the cart, and began walking down the tunnel.


	12. The Beginning of the Finale

Lili and Sasha were hanging around the boathouse, enjoying a cigarette between tasks. Sasha had finished a shooting gallery session, and Lili was scrubbing all the mildew off the boats, which was ugly work. She hadn't been able to find Raz, and was more worried about him than ever.

"So," she said by way of casual conversation, "did you find out if he's insane or not?"

"A bit unstable," replied Sasha, "but he should come around sooner or later."

Lili shook her head. "This is just messed up," she groaned.

Sasha took a drag on his cigarette and didn't answer.

Lili turned to Sasha. "So, what, he doesn't think people get old or what?"

"In his mind, Ford Cruller was a stable force, an unbreakable figure," replied Sasha. "He can't accept the fact that this was not the case. We should be understanding towards him."

Lili stuffed her cigarette into her mouth. "That's stupid," she muttered.

"The human mind is a very complicated system," explained Sasha. "A lot of what it does is stupid."

Lili dropped the cigarette on the ground and stomped it with her heel, and then picked up the stub. "I don't want this to sit on the grave," she said to herself.

"What?"

"Ford's grave," she said. "I don't want to let trash sit on it. It's rude."

"Ford's grave is out in the forest," Sasha said, puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

Lili raised an eyebrow and pointed behind Sasha. A few feet behind him, up against the boathouse, was a gravestone.

_Ford Cruller_

_Grand Head of the Psychonauts  
Whispering Rock's Own  
Admiral, Ranger, Janitor, Chef  
And Mentor_

"That's... unusual," said Sasha. "Wait here a moment..."

Using his advanced skills, he transported part of himself to the janitor's trailer out in the reception area. Just as he thought, there was another identical gravestone nearby. He moved himself back to the boathouse.

"So, what's up?" asked Lili.

"It seems that there are a few questions about Ford Cruller that we'll never find the answer to," replied Sasha. "Although that might help to explain how he as everywhere at the same time... or maybe it doesn't. I can't be sure." He finished his cigarette as well and flicked the butt into the lake.

"Linda's gonna be mad at you," Lili teased.

"I must get back to class," Sasha diverted her. "Those children require a great deal of supervision."

Lili smirked. "Yeah, they really do." She thought for a moment. "So do canoes, actually."

"Be careful, young lady," Sasha warned with a hint of a trace of a smirk. "You'll be sounding like the admiral soon enough."

* * *

Meanwhile, Raz was dragging himself through the tunnels. He had no idea where exactly he was going, but remembering from the map he was pretty sure he was going in the right direction. What he'd find when he got there... he wasn't even thinking about that. He was thinking about everything that had happened. When he got out, they'd believe him. He'd have all the proof that he'd been right, he was right all along, and once again he had saved the day.

Suddenly, he came to the end of the tunnel and hit the wall of the tree stump- quite literally, actually. The lighting down there was very, very poor. He hoisted himself up through the stump and looked around- he had definitely arrived at Ford's Sanctuary. He looked around and breathed out slowly, lest he loose his composure again. He took everything in. The path, the platform, the hallway were all intact, but the machinery was gone. He pulled himself out slowly, looking around, absorbed in the sight.

He was aware, quite spontaneously, that he wasn't alone. He heard breathing, and then the rustle of human movement. He jumped all the way out and crouched on the walkway, glaring carefully, trying to see in the dark.

He saw a figure, standing in the middle, approach.

He stood a little straighter, trying to pierce the barrier of space between them and find out.

"Ford?" he whispered, daring to hope.

"Well, it's about friggin' time!"

It wasn't Ford's voice- it was a woman's voice, and an angry one at that. A light came on- it was a toolbench lamp, strung up on a post in the middle. It was a small light, but it adequately lit the entire surface. The glass had been cracked open and boarded up. Two bare feet were standing on top, one tapping impatiently.

Raz looked up and found himself face-to-face with Allie. She looked the same as when he last saw her, except her face was streaked with dirt, her clothes were grimy, and her hair was soaked. She also looked extremely annoyed, with her arms crossed and her face scowling.

"Uh, hi," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"What's she doing here, he asks," Allie sneered. "Nobody's seen me for, like, three friggin' chapters! Nobody's even noticed! Do you even care what happened?"

"What?" Raz frowned, and then suddenly it dawned on him. "Wait, the last time I saw you, you said you had something important to tell me."

Allie raised an eyebrow.

"Remember? In the tree house?" he prompted.

She frowned, and then said slowly, "You're Raz, then?"

"Uh, you know me," Raz said flatly. "We've met. Quite a few times, if I'm not mistaken."

"Oh, sorry," said Allie. "I don't remember people very well."

"You don't..." Raz trailed off in disbelief. He gestured to the goggles, the pilot's helmet, his other distinguishing features, and threw just his arms up.

"It's called 'face blind,' Raz, and it's not a slight in any way." She made another sneer. "I just don't remember people very well."

"That's... really weird."

"I know, right?"

"You've really been down here since then?"

"Yeah. And it's really boring. He just dumped me down here a while ago and that's it. I don't even know how long it's been. But I've already hummed all the songs I know, so it's been a while."

Raz started to tally how long it had been in his mind, but lost count by distraction.

"So, you've been down here, what, how long, without anything? No food?"

"No,"

"No water?"

"No, there's--" she stopped suddenly, and her eyes widened. Her hands flew to her soaked hair. "Oh, shit. Raz, get outta here!"

"Get- what, what's wrong?"

"Get out of her now!" She spun him around by the shoulders and shoved him along the path. Raz saw, for the first time, the moat- all of the area under the platform, where the cobweb detangler and such had been, there was a moat of water. Raz froze.

"I forgot, I forgot," Allie was saying over and over, trying to shove Raz. But Raz wouldn't move, he was too stricken with fear to process anything except for the fact that he was surrounded with water. Already he felt like a thousand hands were reaching out, waving to him, beckoning to him, calling him.

Suddenly, the were both snatched up in a green psychic shield. That was enough to snap Raz out of his terror-induced trance. "What's going on?" he demanded, looking around.

"And you're going to stay there," said Nawrocki, from somewhere unseen, "until everything else falls into place. Understand?"

"What's going on?" Raz demanded.

Allie rolled her eyes. "That's the reason I'm stuck down here. That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"Right," said Nawrocki. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go fry up some lunch so nobody notices Girl is still missing. So long!"

Raz looked around, but he couldn't see clearly through the psychic shield. He banged on the sides, hollaring, "Let me out! Get back here!"

"He's not gonna," said Allie, sitting down and hugging her knees.

Raz sat down, too. "Then this shield should give way in a minute."

"Settle in," said Allie. "He's probably going to flood the tunnel or something to keep you from getting out."

"Well, since I'm stuck here, you want to tell me what's been going on?"

She shook her head.

"Why not?"

"Because," she said clearly, but barely moving her mouth, "I'm very, very claustrophobic and I think I'm going to panic."

Raz groaned.


	13. The Truth About Ford Cruller

It felt like they'd been left alone for hours in that dark pit. How Ford had ever seen it as a sanctuary, Raz would never know. It was a dark, hideous pit. If he could find a way out of there, he would never come back.

But there was no way out. The only way Raz could get in and out was the tunnel he came through. And, just like Allie said, Nawrocki had flooded it. Even if Raz wasn't paralyzing afraid of water, there was no way to get enough air down there. He paced and snorted, but that brought no answer.

Allie was sitting up in the tunnel with her back leaned against the archway. Her left leg was tucked with her knee pointing up, and her right leg was dangling over the side. It was like she was trying to win the 'nonchalant' contest. "You can pace all you want," she said. "There is absolutely no way out, I promise."

"How do _you_ know?" Raz snapped.

Allie smirked. "If you haven't figured it out yet, I don't really think I want to tell you."

Raz stared at her a few seconds longer, and then went back to pacing. "Nawrocki killed Ford," he said. "That twisted plant monster murdered Ford Cruller."

"No, he didn't," said Allie.

Raz stopped pacing and glared at her. "How do you know that?"

She considered that for a moment before answering. "Oh, lots of reasons, I guess," she shrugged. "For one, Ford Cruller wasn't murdered."

"How do you know _that_?"

"You'd have to be a fool not to know," she said. Then, she quickly added, "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean it that way…"

"Then why is Nawrocki going through so much trouble to keep us quiet?" Raz pressed.

"Because he's a huge jerk," she answered. "I never said he wasn't. He's just not a killer."

"He's something, all right." Raz looked around. "Do you really think there's no way out of here?"

"Maybe if we worked together we could carry out some sort of a plan," she suggested.

"Yeah? Like what?"

She put her hand to her chin in an animated gesture of thinking. Raz wasn't sure if she was making fun of him or just being silly. Then she said, "I suppose I could hide up here, and then when he comes back I'll create a distraction while you grab him and then we'll force him to get us out."

Raz turned that idea over in his mind. "I guess," he said slowly. "Okay. It's worth a shot."

Allie flattened herself down on the ground on her belly like a snake and inched backwards. "Can you see me?"

Raz knelt until he was about Nawrocki-height. "Yeah," he said. "A little. Move back some more."

She inched back a little more and the last of her greasy hair disappeared under the vanishing point. "How about now?"

"No," said Raz, standing up. "You should be good."

He paced a few more times back and forth, thinking. There was nothing new to think about. He wanted Nawrocki to show up so he could wring his neck, or stem, or whatever it is you wring on a plant.

He looked up at the tunnel. "You think this will work?"

"Probably not," said Allie.

"What?!"

She propped herself up on her elbows. "My ideas never work out, Raz. I'm the Grand Dutchess of Bad Ideas. No, I always fail epically."

"Then why did you suggest this?!"

"Because you didn't seem to have anything to go on! Excuse me for pitching."

Raz groaned and lowered his head. He took a deep breath, and looked back up. "Okay," he said. "Whatever."

"So are we still carrying out the plan?"

Just then, a bright light came up from the tunnel. Sasha and Lili rose out, surrounded by a large psychic shield. The shield was to carry air for them in the tunnel.

"Razputin!" Sasha said. He didn't actually yell, but the tone of voice was as bad as if he had. "I'm very disappointed in your actions. You know better than this."

"How'd you find me?" he asked sheepishly.

"I was looking everywhere for you!" Lili blurted out.

"You were?"

"Yeah, I was worried to death! I asked Milla where you were, and she didn't know, and no one else had seen you until I asked Sasha in his lab and Sheegor said you'd been here and Mr. Pokeylope told me where you were headed!"

"Huh. Mr. Pokeylope really does solve all your problems," Raz said.

"Will you be serious!" Lili was still angry. "I love you but I'm tired of you being so crazy!"

"Listen, Razputin, we must get out of here quickly," said Sasha, cutting into the lovers quarrel. "Come with me through the flooded tunnel before it's discovered we're in here."

"A-ha!" Raz shouted triumphantly. "So you know that Nawrocki is the bad guy!"

"Yeah, that much was obvious from the get-go, but that's not really the question."

It wasn't Sasha answering Raz, or Lili interrupting, or even Allie pulling for more attention. Nawrocki dropped like a wet sack onto the ground in the middle of the sanctuary and pulled himself up to his full height- maybe two or three meters tops.

Right away, he grabbed Lili with his mass of vines.

"Oh, hell no!" she shouted, stomping down on his vine. "I am not getting kidnapped and I am not playing the damsel in distress!" And she let a blast of aggression, which he just barely dodged.

"You're right," said Nawrocki apologetically, taking a few steps back. "I'm sorry. I apologize. It was chauvinistic of me, to go right to the only female and assume she would make the best hostage. Forgive me."

"Well… okay."

"Good."

Quick as a wink, using that ridiculous conversation as a distraction, Nawrocki had his vines all over Sasha. His grip around Sasha's arms and legs was tight, but the grip around his neck was unforgiving. One hint of raising a psychic finger, and Sasha's neck could be snapped like a twig.

"Keep your leaves off of him!" Raz shouted. "You took away Ford, but I'll be damned if you're going to take Sasha, too."

"Razputin…" Sasha said, his voice somewhat squeezed. "Think carefully before you speak…"

"What are you talking about?" Nawrocki asked.

"You murdered Ford Cruller as part of your evil plot!"

"Oh, for the love of…" Nawrocki leaned over to Raz and cupped his leaves around his mouth. Very loudly and clearly, he said, "I DIDN'T MURDER FORD CRULLER. NO ONE MURDURED FORD CRULLER. HE JUST DIED. THAT'S WHAT OLD PEOPLE DO."

"See?" Lili pointed triumphantly to Nawrocki.

Raz held his arm in front of her. "You keep out of this," he commanded. "Then what is this all about?"

Nawrocki pointed down. "You're standing on it."

Raz looked down. "The glass?"

Nawrocki slapped his face. "Not the glass, you idiot. The Psitanium."

"Oh! I forgot about the Psitanium."

"That's exactly what's got me so ticked off!" Nawrocki hollered. "This isn't just the biggest Psitanium deposit in the world, it's the biggest one known _period_. I planned to get to know the woods here and have the Psitanium carted off, easy as cake, before camp even started."

"What went wrong?"

"Well, it turns out it's not easy as cake. For one thing, you guys are everywhere, and for another, I couldn't get into the sanctuary." He paused to catch his breath, and then turned to Sasha. "As you guessed, I used the storm as a cover to make as much noise as I wanted looking for a way in… I didn't know about the tunnels."

"Did you have anything to do with the fire?" asked Raz.

"Yes. As a last-ditch effort to get everyone away from here. Also I tried to cook with Pyrokinesis. I'd already found it and was using it as a prison… And now you're going to help me cart the Psitanium out of here so I can take it back to my own dimension, sell it off, and live like a duke or something until I waste all the money."

"So… you needed to get into the lair… but you didn't kill Ford to get him out of the way?"

"No," said Nawrocki. "Funny, though, I probably would have had to anyway, but he died before I got the project underway."

"That's not funny, that's horrible!"

"Well, yeah, I guess. Maybe if you're not me." He shrugged.

Just then, Allie took it upon herself to enact the plan. She leapt out of hiding and pounced on Nawrocki, screaming, "Je suis un bear!"

Nawrocki batted her out of the way. "Cut that out," he said.

Lili turned to Raz. "Um, what was that?"

"She thinks we're still doing the plan," Raz answered.

"The plan was for her to pounce on Nawrocki and declare that she was a bear in almost-French?"

"Oui," she said, from her position flat on her back a few feet away. "It's up to you now, Raz! Bonne chance."

Nawrocki squeezed Sasha a little tighter. His face was flushed.

"Come and get me, Goggles. Bring it on. I can take you with one brain lobe tied behind my back."


	14. The Truth I Choose

To enter another ones mind without the aid of a Psycho-portal is an advanced feat for a psychic mind. Raz had never done it before, but he was going to right now. It was a good a time as any to learn. Because suddenly, the most important thing in the world to him was to get inside that twisted, green freak and unwind his sick mind. His mind was set on it. He was angry. He was determined. He reached out psychically and spend to Nawrocki's mind.

Nawrocki saw it coming and countered with his own stream of psychic energy. For a moment, there was an intense struggle of power, each one trying to get into the other's mind whill keeping _him _out of _his_. The energy became visible, and got brighter and brighter until everything was so white he had to close his eyes, and it was still white. Then suddenly it was pitch dark and he was lying on his back. He opened his eyes and he was outside, looking up at a gray sky.

"Is this your mind?" he asked out loud, knowing that Nawrocki was nearby.

"No..." Nawrocki said, seeming as confused as he was. "It isn't yours?"

"No..." Raz sat up and looked around. It was a small, cute turn-of-the-century Americana small town setting, capped with a fairy tale castle. "Whose mind is it?"

"a-HEM."

Raz looked behind him and saw Allie, standing on the curb of the street with her arms crossed, flanked by two censors wearing mouse ears. One of them was brandishing a knife, and the other was waving a severed head in a coonskin cap at them.

"This is my mind," she said sternly, "and I'll thank you to stay out of it. I have some very private things in here that I don't want to share."

Raz squinted at the censors. "Is that one holding the severed head of Davy Crockett?"

"I said private things!"

"Okay, whatever."

The censor gestured to Allie. She leaned over and he whispered something in Japanese to her.

"Oh, I know," she said to him, "but he's mad anyway so it doesn't matter."

Raz rolled his eyes.

Nawrocki bowed graciously. "I'd be glad to leave your mental sanctuary, ma'am. I'll just step out into the mind of grand old Razputin here--"

"Oh, no you won't!" Raz argued. He blasted aggression in Nawrocki's direction. Nawrocki dodged swiftly, and instead the beam hit an authentically crafted lamppost.

"Hey, be careful!" Allie shouted.

Nawrocki swiped the ground with a thorny vine under Raz's feet. Raz jumped and landed on his Levitation wrecking ball. He rolled up onto the curb and down the alkway, taking out a mailbox, a bench, and several lampposts.

"Dammit!" shouted Allie. "Rosco! Bosco! Ditch the head and get them to knock it off!"

"No no no!" The censors tossed aside the head and sword and waddled off after Raz and Nawrocki, still battling.

Raz blasted Rosco twice, and those blasts bounced off him and hit Bosco, exploding them both. Then he hit Nawrocki twice with his fists, but before he could go for a combo, Nawrocki threw a confusion grenade and it went off on them both.

As they were trying to shake off the fog of confusion, the ground rumbled as giant footsteps sounded off. A dark, looming figure appeared over them.

"I told you to get out," said Allie in a singsong voice.

A deep, throaty, gravelly voice spoke from above them, "So what's with these freaks? The characters from your stupid little obsession? Goddamn it, this is a pain. When are you going to get these freaks out of your mind and fill it with something other than candy-ass retard characters? God, no wonder you suck so bad at college if you cram your mind full of this shit at home."

The confusion lifted, and Raz and Nawrocki looked up slowly. A large, film-negative version of Allie stood towering over them. Her eyes were blood-red and evil, and she had claws and fangs. Allie was standing next to the beast, about knee-high.

"Raz, Nawrocki," she said politely, "I'd like you to meet the source of my depression. I call her Big Nasty. Big Nasty, this is Raz and Nawrocki."

"I know who they are," snapped Big Nasty. "Jeeze, they float around this cobwebbed trash hole of a brain you've been sattled with. Although they certainly don't act anything like they should. Couldn't expect more, given what a godawful author you are. Those 'special-needs' retards you used to go to school with could cobble together better than--"

"Shut up, Big Nasty," grumbled Allie, glaring at her.

"Don't tell me to shut up. You're the one too dumb to ever say anything anyone wants to listen to. Though that doesn't stop you from talking nonstop day in and day out--"

"Hey, you're the one who won't shut up!" Raz snapped.

Big Nasty glared daggers at Raz, and then lifted her fist over his head. "You know what?" she said lightly. "I'm going to smash you like a spider. Like the little one is too much of a big fat chicken to do."

Raz looked up at her fist. "You know what?" he squeaked, "I think I'm gonna go."

"Yes, I as well feel I should be going," added Nawrocki.

"That would be best." Allie nodded.

Nawrocki turned around and jumped into Raz. Raz jumped- Nawrocki certainly could think quickly. Raz turned around and jumped into himself, into his own mind.

* * *

In Raz's mind, Nawrocki was already looking around. He frowned. "This is your mind?" he asked lazily. "Pretty cluttered, isn't it?"

Raz lookd around. It was certainly a hub of activity. More so than he remembered, actually. The whole place was buzzing with activity. Or, maybe it was just buzzing. Vibrating. It was off, whatever it was. Off kilter. Bizarre.

"Totally trashed, is what it is. You've let it unravel and now it's falling apart." Nawrocki looked up, up, up, so far he was leaning backwards looking at Raz upside down. "I've seen it before. You'll end up so insane you can't even remember anyone you love."

Raz sneered.

"Let's fight," said Nawrocki.

"Kay."

They fought again some more. Nawrocki prefered ranged attacks, standing from afar and hurling blasts and grenades. He also reached out to pick Raz up at first, but his circus upbringing left Raz too nimble for Nawrocki's clunky psychic hand. Raz jumped back on his wrecking ball and tried to ram Nawrocki once, and then never again- Nawrocki stopped the ball and Raz went flying.

Scenery jumped out of the way whenever Raz got close. They were in a sort of bubble of nothing, as if everything in his mind was a fuzzy backdrop. Their battle carried them around, but it was as if they never moded at all.

"You're looking at the background," said Nawrocki.

"So what?" Raz let off two blasts of aggression which hit Nawrocki spot on. He skidded backwards and flipped onto his leaf-hands.

"So, you know what's wrong with it, don't you?" Nawrocki said. He was laughing without making a sound- making those little shaking, heaving movements the body does when it's laughing, but without the acutal auditory laughs.

"Shut up," said Raz. He was more annoyed than angry, but getting there.

"You're completely unraveled."

Raz grabbed a confusion grenade and hurled it at Nawrocki. Nawrocki jumped from his leaves back to his roots, but not far enough away from the confusion gas. Then Raz reached into the air and opened a door. He shoved the door at Nawrocki and slammed it shut. Nawrocki was out of his mind. Then he frowned and opened the door again.

"Way to go, Razputin!"

Raz closed the door and turned around slowly, facing the image of Ford Cruller in his mind. Good old Ford, with his official Psychonauts uniform clashing with his pink fuzzy slippers. Crazy old Ford, with his big old man nose and wild hair.

"You fight like a real Psychonaut. I knew letting you in was a good idea." He was beaming with pride.

Raz felt his eyes tearing up and looked down. "You're not real," he whispered through the lump in his throat.

Cruller looked confused. "What? I'm pretty sure I'm real, last I checked."

Raz shook his head. "No, you're not."

"You been listening to Sasha Nein again? I know he's a smart one, but he has a way of looking at things. Good old logical Sasha can't see things he doesn't understand. But you understand, don't you Raz? Course you do. That's why I made you a Psychonaut."

Raz was listening. He wanted to believe. He listened, because listening would make it true. It had to.

"Come on over here," said Ford, gesturing. "You've been doing great, but your grenade arm is a little sloppy. Let me show you how I used to do it back when I did field combat."

Raz took a step forward, and the surrounding area took the one step with him- but Ford stayed the same. One pace closer to him. Raz took another step, and the same thing happened.

He was isolated in his own mind. He couldn't get close to anything except for Ford.

And Nawrocki was right. He was a jerk, but he was right.

"What's the matter?" asked Ford. "You know you can trust me, don't you? What's wrong?"

Raz wiped his eyes and put his goggles back over his eyes. "I'm sorry, Ford," he said quietly.

"Sorry for what? Raz, what are you--"

Raz blasted Ford.

He looked up, and the space was empty. He was alone in his mind.

Raz threw the door open and jumped through into Nawrocki's mind.

* * *

Nawrocki's mind was a combination between a bank vault and a jungle. Raz landed cleanly on his feet and looked around. The ground was covered in gold and underbrush, and the steel walls wre covered with ivy. Nawrocki was clinging to one of the upper corners, looking down at Raz. It was his big eyes that gave him away.

"You really won't stop, will you?" he asked.

"Not until you let go of Sasha," said Raz menacingly.

Nawrocki glanced around. In his own mind he was in his element, but then again there was more damage that Raz could do here.

Raz picked up a big sack with a dollar sign on it, the kind bank robbers in cartoons always carry. "This is what it's all about, isn't it?" he said. "You're just trying to get rich... that's all."

"Yeah," said Nawrocki tensely. "That's all."

Raz nodded. "It really makes you think," he said, slowly and significantly. He paused. Then he blasted the cartoon money bag and it disappeared.

"Hey, don't do that!" Nawrocki shouted. He dropped to the ground.

"Don't do what?" asked Raz innocently. "This?" and he blasted that one away, too.

Nawrocki scurried over to Raz. "You cut that out!" he shouted angrily.

Then, suddenly everything went white and Raz was pulled out of Nawrocki's mind. Raz had distracted Nawrocki enough so that his grip on Sasha loosened. After that, he and Lili had the upper hand. When Raz shook off his dizzy shock at being pulled out so quickly, he saw that they had won. Lili and Sasha had Nawrocki restrained.

"Let's take him in," said Lili.

"Come here," said Sasha. "I'll help you out of here."

"And I'll help you," Lili said to Allie.

"Thanks much," Allie said.

"Yeah," said Raz, looking back at the empty sanctuary. "Yeah, let's go."

He turned back, fully aware that he would probably never see the sanctuary again. At least, he hoped he never would.


	15. Burying the Mania

It was hard to go back to camp like nothing had happened.

Nawrocki was carted away. Wherever he came from, if his embassy didn't come help him he'd be serving his time in a state prison somewhere out west.

"He'll get out, no doubt about it, and continue to make mischief in other universes," Allie told Raz. "He's a real monster, you know, but he's persistent. Ya gotta admire that in a guy."

Raz didn't admire it. But at last he knew the camp was safe, and that the death of Ford Cruller was avenged.

Only it wasn't, because there was nothing to be avenged. There was no murder. Hell, he'd known that all along. It was easier to put it into terms he understood, as a Psychonaut. Espionage. Secrets and lies. A conspiracy. It was familiar to him, easier to swallow than the cold, hard truth. And the cold hard truth was, life is cold. And hard.

The morning after, the world kept moving. How could it? How could everyone go about their lives when nothing would ever be the same? He wanted to lie in bed with the covers over his head for the rest of his life, but that wasn't possible- with Nawrocki gone, he had been volunteered for the ranger position, so as soon as the sun was up, so was he.

The lodge hadn't been rebuilt yet, so Oleander had set up a large army tent for the main gathering. Raz let himself in, and saw that most of the campers were already sitting down on tables inside. Allie had set up a buffet of breakfast staples (eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and the like) and was sitting at a table with a few kids, regaling them with a story. Raz didn't even grab a plate. He just sat down and stared at the table.

"So, like, the only way they know to get rid of headaches, or demons, or that stuff was to drill a hole in his head," Allie explained. "And not those nice, smooth power drills like your dad has in his garage. No, we're talking heavy duty made of rock drills. You gotta hold this guy down, because as soon as you start drilling he's not gonna like that, but it's gotta be done. And they drill right through his skull to the brain. And you know what the weirdest part is? … We know this because of archeological evidence, we dug up skulls that had holes drilled in them… and they healed over… and then had _more_ holes drilled in and healed over."

Several of the campers pushed their plates away, transfixed in horror. Several of the others were leaning in for more excitedly.

"Do you want to know how much blood there was?"

From across the room, Milla looked up from her breakfast and said, "Maybe you want to tell a more appropriate story to entertain the children, darling?"

"What's wrong with this one?" she asked indignantly.

Raz didn't see what happened, but she stopped talking. Good. That was a really gross story, he thought. Almost as gross as—

A plate of camp breakfast landed in front of his face.

I swear, he thought, that is _not_ what I was about to say.

"Le chef-d'oeuvre _(the main course)_," said Allie, who had thrown him the plate. "Bonne appetite."

"Why do you have to tell gross stories and talk about Disney World?" he asked her.

"For the same reason prairie dogs have to poke their heads out of holes all over Oklahoma," she replied. "And why you gotta be a Psychonaut. It courses through your veins like an air bubble rushing to your heart that will sooner rather than later kill you. Only that doesn't have anything to do with prairie dogs." Realizing that she wasn't being helpful, she scuttled away to go hide behind the counter.

Then Dogen came up and sat down next to Raz. "Hi, Raz," he said.

"Hey, Dogen," Raz mumbled.

"Is that true what she said about the drill?" Dogen asked.

Raz shrugged. "I don't know."

"Because they were gonna try that when they couldn't make me stop setting things on fire…" Dogen trailed off, and then started up again. "Is it true the new ranger man isn't coming back?"

"Yeah, he was a bad guy," Raz replied.

"Did they take him to jail?"

"Yeah."

"Are you gonna be a teacher again?"

"I don't know," Raz said.

"They're not gonna let you?"

"I don't know." It was easier than to tell his friend the truth- that he didn't think he could stand being in Whispering Rock another second without pulling his hair out and screaming like a banshee or a little girl.

"I hope they let you. It's a lot more fun when you're in class." Dogen sat still after he said that, staring blankly out into space.

Raz looked at him and frowned thoughtfully, then smiled weakly. "We'll see," he said with assurance.

* * *

Raz was sitting on top of the lodge, where he could see the whole world. Not the _whole_ whole world, but _his_ whole world. Sasha was standing beside him, feet balanced perfectly on the log beam, hands folded behind his back casually.

"How long have I been here?" Raz asked.

Sasha checked his watch.

"No," said Raz. "I mean, how long since I arrived at camp?"

There was a pause, and Sasha checked his watch again. "Two weeks. Why do you ask?" he asked as he counted in his head.

"No reason," said Raz. "It just feels like forever since I drove down here, but it couldn't have been very long, could it?"

"Five months!" called Allie from the ground.

"What?" Raz called back, but she had already moved on. He leaned back and looked up at Sasha. "Time moves funny sometimes, doesn't it?"

"When you are young, a year is a long time," said Sasha. "To a child waiting eagerly to go to his first day of school, a year can be over twenty percent of his whole life. To an old man watching his grandchildren go to college, a year can be just a grain of sand on the beach."

"That's very philosophical."

"I'm not a young man anymore, Razputin," said Sasha.

"You're not old, either."

"To someone as young as you, I'm surprised you don't see me as very old, indeed."

Raz didn't know for sure how old Sasha actually was, so he didn't say anything about that. He didn't say anything for a long time, he just looked out over the forest, watching the birds and the nut rats.

"Do you ever think about dying, Sasha?" asked Raz.

"Very often." He glanced down at Raz. "Do you?"

"No," said Raz. He didn't think of himself dying. It wasn't quite the immortality of youth. It was just that his life was so much more worth thinking about, that he never had time to think about death when it wouldn't change anything, anyway. "But I think about you guys dying," he added. "You know. 'Casue being a Psychonaut is dangerous. I always worry that one of us won't come back from the dangerous missions. And now I have to worry about you getting sick, or getting old, or maybe just some stupid accident that no one could have predicted—"

Sasha cut him off. "Razputin, don't begin to think like that. If you do, you won't ever stop. Anything could happen to take the ones you love away from you. Every day, death narrowly passes us dozens, if not hundreds of times. You can't let it bother you."

Raz pulled his goggles down over his eyes. He didn't feel like anyone seeing him cry. "I don't know what I'd do without you," he mumbled.

"Come with me," said Sasha, holding out a hand. He helped Razputin up and took him to the lab.

* * *

"Sheegor, is the brain tumbler warmed up?" he asked as they entered the lab.

"Yep!" she chirped. "I plugged it in and let it run just like you said."

"Why are we at the brain tumbler?" asked Raz.

"Because I want you to see something." Sasha walked over to the control console and began to work over it. Raz had no idea what he was doing, but he always looked busy over there. "Step up to the Brain Tumbler when you are ready," he instructed.

As he'd done before, Raz made sure his goggles were secure and he backed into the brain tumbler. There was a familiar humming, flash of light, and strange pulling sensation, and he landed in his own mind.

"Is anything different?" he heard Sasha ask.

Raz lifted his goggles and looked around. "Yeah," he said uncertainly. "Yeah, nothing's all blurry anymore… and it doesn't look like I'm in some kind of empty bubble. It looks like I'm in some kind of forest circus city. Next to a Gypsy cart."

"Good," said Sasha. "I thought that would be the case. Do me a favor and tell me if you see anyone."

"Not right here, no."

"Have look around and let me know if you do."

Raz wandered down a street and turned into a clearing that ended up being the Big Top, only when he climbed the trapeze he was on top of a skyscraper. He jumped onto a telephone line and swung onto a jungle vine, and landed in the spotlight. Then he turned around and collided with a man sweeping up the ring.

"Whoa! Excuse me," said Raz. "Didn't see you there."

"Hmph! Didn't see me there," the hunched old man groused. "Thankless job, cleanin' up after all these circus shenanigans… if you ask me, being a janitor is the truly noble profession."

Raz hardly dared to believe it. "Ford?"

"Who, me? None other."

Raz grabbed him in a hug so hard he almost knocked him over. "I thought I got rid of you!"

"You got rid of the mania," Sasha explained. "This one will not tell you what you wish were true. It will only tell you what you remember to be true."

"Sasha's right," said Ford. "I'm not the real Ford Cruller… I'm just a memory let out of the vault."

Raz was crying again, tears of pure joy. Outside the tumbler, Sasha could see them under his goggles. As long as he was in a trance, Raz wouldn't wipe them away so Sasha lifted his goggles for him.

"I could have told you that the ones we love never leave us," Sasha explained, "and that they're always a part of us… but I thought it would be easier to believe if you saw it for yourself."

* * *

And after that, everything was okay.


End file.
